$\\r% 


^OF-CALIFO^          ^\\EUNIVER% 

* 


O       ii: 

1  3 


S   § 


\Q, 


JIIVO-JO^1 


%  ^ 


Q      — 

g      5! 


\\EUNIVER% 


s  i 


-"       V 

O         u_ 


3.       ^lOS-ANCEia> 

&         fS     ^i**.  "&. 


I    3 

f  ^ 


^l  LIBRARY^ 


£•   3 

c= 


I    3 


I  I 

co          r> 


^OF-CAllFOff^,      ^OKAtlFO/i^ 


%  m 


y<?AHvaan^ 


i  I 


C3         ftj 
1        1 


s    ? 


£   i 


"  We  fervently  believe  that  our  only  chance  of  national  prosperity 
lies  in  the  timely  remodelling  of  our  system,  so  as  to  put  it  as  nearly 
as  possible  upon  an  equality  •with  the  improved  management  of 
the  Americans."— RICHARD  COBDEN,  1835. 


The 

Americanization  of 
the  World       ^      ^ 

or 

The  Trend  of  the  Twentieth  Century 

By 

W.  T.  Stead 

>  > 

Author  of  "The  Troth  About  Rucsia,"  "The  Pope  and 
the  New  Era,"  "The  United  States  of  Europe " 


With  Several  Interesting  Maps 


HORACE  MARKLEY 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 


Copyright,  1 901 

by 

HORACE  MARKLEY 
All  Rights  Reserved 


Copyright,  J902 

by 

HORACK  MARKLEY 
AH  Right*'  Reserved 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

Chapter       I  The  English-speaking  "World— page  1 

"  H  The  Basis  for  Reunion— page  17 

"          in  The  Americanization  of  Ireland— page  27 

IV  Of  South  Africa— page  51 

"          V  Of  the  West  Indies  and  Thereabouts— page  70 

"         VI  Of  Newfoundland  and  Canada— page  83 

VH  Of  Australia— page  123 

"       Vm  A  Crucible  of  Nations— page  145 


PART  H 

THE  REST  OF  THE  WORLD 

Chapter       I  Europe — page  161 

"  II  The  Ottoman  Empire — page  183 

"         IE  Asia— page  199 

44         IV  Central  and  South  America— page  214 

V  The  Monroe  Doctrine — page  229 

"         VI  On  International  Arbitration— page  248 


4S7507 


Contents 

PART  HI 

HOW  AMERICA  AMERICANIZES 

Chapter       I  Religion— page  255 

II  Literature  and  Journalism — page  276 

"          III  Art,  Science,  and  Music— page  304 

44         IV  Marriage  and  Society— page  3J8 

V  Sport— page  334 

:*         VI  The  "American  Invasion"— page  342 

*'        VH  Railways,  Shipping,  and  Trusts— page  360 


PART  IV 

THE  SUMMING-UP 

Chapter       I  What  is  the  Secret  of  American  Success  ?— page  38J- 

"  H  A  Look  Ahead!— page  396 

"          HI  Steps  Towards  Reunion— page  418 

IV  The  End  Thereof-page  439 


The  Americanization 
of  the  World 


Part  One 

The  United  States  and  the 
British  Empire 

Chapter  First 

The  English-Speaking  World 

THE  Americanization  of  the  world  is  a  phrase  which 
excites,  quite  needlessly,  some  resentment  in  Great 
Britain.  It  is  even  regarded  as  an  affront  to  England 
to  suggest  that  the  world  is  being  Americanized.  Its 
true  destiny  of  course  is  to  be  Anglicized.  And  many 
are  quick  to  discern  something  of  anti-patriotic  bias 
in  the  writers  who  venture  to  call  attention  to  the 
trend  of  the  Twentieth  Century. 

To  all  such  irate  champions  of  England  and  the 
English  it  is  sufficient  to  reply  that,  as  the  creation 

I 


Where.  John  Bull  Stands 

of  the  .Americans,  Js.  the  greatest  achievement  of  our 
racej>  tliere:  is  no'  feafean  .ta  resent  the  part  the  Amer- 
icans are  playing  in  fashioning  the  world  in  their 

;  image,  which,  after  all,  is  substantially  the  image  of 

•  ourselves. 

If  we  are  afflicted  with  national  vanity  we  can  con- 

I  sole  ourselves  by  reflecting  that  the  Americans  are 
only  giving  to  others  what  they  inherited  from  our- 
selves. Whatever  they  do,  all  goes  to  the  credit  of 
the  family.  It  is  an  unnatural  parent  who  does  not 
exult  in  the  achievements  of  his  son,  even  although 
they  should  eclipse  the  triumphs  of  his  sire  as  much 
as  the  victories  of  Hannibal  threw  into  the  shade  the 
exploits  of  Hamilcar. 

Whatever  may  be  the  objections  that  are  raised  from 
one  side  or  the  other,  I  hope  the  reader,  if  he  is  a 
Briton,  will  at  least  be  able  to  go  so  far  with  me  as 
to  rejoice  in  contemplating  the  achievements  of  the 
mighty  nation  that  has  sprung  from  our  loins,  and 
if  he  is  an  American,  to  tolerate  the  complacency 
with  which  John  Bull  sets  down  all  his  exploits  to 
the  credit  of  the  family.  Without  that  element  of 
mutual  sympathy,  it  is  to  be  feared  the  survey  of 
the  process  which  I  have  dubbed  the  Americanization 
of  the  World,  is  not  likely  to  tend  to  edification,  but 
rather  to  recriminations,  cavilings,  and  bitterness  of 
spirit. 

Of  one  thing  the  Briton  is  assured.     However  he 
may  be  outstripped  and  overshadowed  by  the  Ameri- 
can, no  one  can  deprive  us  of  the  traditional  glories 
which  encompass  the  cradle  of  the  race.     "The  purple 
2 


Of  British  Genesis 

mist  of  centuries  and  of  song"  will  never  lift  from 
these  small  islands  on  the  northern  seas. 

We  may  lose  our  primacy  in  the  forging  of  iron  and 
steel,  but  no  "invasion"  can  deprive  us  of  the  indestruc- 
tible renown  possessed  by  the  land  which  gave  birth 
to  Alfred  and  Cromwell,  to  Shakespeare  and  Milton, 
to  Burns  and  Scott.  And  as  men  will  ever  think 
more  highly  of  the  City  of  the  Violet  Crown  with! 
its  Groves  of  Academe,  peopled  with  poets  and  sages, 
than  of  the  geographically  vast  expanse  of  Asiatic 
empires,  so  it  may  well  be  that  England  may  be  a  name 
worn  ever  nearer  the  great  heart  of  mankind  than  that 
of  the  Continent-covering  son  of  Anak,  whose  bulk 
overshadows  the  world. 

At  the  same  time — and  I  hasten  to  make  this  admis- 
sion to  pacify  irate  American  readers  resentful  of  the 
suggestion  that  John  Bull  stands  to  Brother  Jonathan 
as  Athens  to  Persia — it  is  possible  that  the  American 
may  stand  to  the  Briton  as  Christianity  stands  to 
Judaism. 

As  it  was  through  the  Christian  Church  that  the 
monotheism  of  the  Jew  conquered  the  world,  so  it 
may  be  through  the  Americans  that  the  English  ideals 
expressed  in  the  English  language  may  make  the 
tour  of  the  planet.  The  parallel  is  dangerously  ex- 
act. For  there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  many 
Americans  regard  the  English  with  the  same  unfilial 
ingratitude  that  many  Christians  regard  the  Jew.  It 
is  as  useless  to  remind  them  that  the  men  of  the  May- 
flower were  English,  as  it  is  to  remind  anti-Semites 
that  Christ  and  His  apostles  were  Jews.  Yet  it  was 

3 


The  United  States  Leads 

through  the  Christian  Church,  too  often  unmindful 
of  its  Jewish  parentage,  that  the  ethical  ideals  of 
the  Jew  permeated  and  civilized  the  world.  The 
philosopher  recognizes  that  the  world-mission  of 
the  Jews  was  only  fulfilled  through  the  Nazarene 
whom  they  crucified ;  and  so  in  years  to  come  the 
philosophical  historian  may  record  that  the  mission 
of  the  English  fulfilled  itself  through  the  Ameri- 
can. The  Americanization  of  the  world  is  but  the 
Anglicizing  of  the  world  at  one  remove. 

That  the  United  States  of  America  have  now  arrived 
at  such  a  pitch  of  power  and  prosperity  as  to  have  a 
jright  to  claim  the  leading  place  among  the  English- 
;  speaking  nations  cannot  be  disputed.  The  census  re- 
turns at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  are  conclusive.  The  figures  stand  thus : — • 

The  United  Kingdom (1801)  15,717,287     (1901)  41,454,578 

The  United  States (1800)    5,305,925     (1900)  76,299,529 

If  it  be  objected  that  the  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  King's  subjects,  let 
us  add  to  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom  every 
white-skinned  person  in  the  British  Empire,  and  let  us 
at  the  same  time  deduct  from  the  population  of  the 
United  States  all  men  of  color.  The  figures  will  stand 
thus : — 

1801  1901 

The  British  Empire 16,000,000  55,000,000 

The  United  States 4,300,000  66,000,000 

If  any  one  objects  that  we  have  not  included  the  my- 
riads of  India  among  British  citizens,  the  answer  is 
4 


The  Decree  of  Destiny 

easy.  We  are  comparing  the  English-speaking  com- 
munities. The  right  of  leadership  does  not  depend 
upon  how  many  millions,  more  or  less,  of  colored  peo- 
ple we  have  compelled  to  pay  us  taxes.  It  depends 
upon  the  power,  the  skill,  the  wealth,  the  numbers  of 
the  white  citizens  of  the  self-governing  State. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  is  absurd  to  group  together 
as  English-speaking  men  millions  who,  like  the  Cana- 
dians of  Quebec  and  the  colonists  in  Mauritius,  only 
speak  French,  or,  like  the  Dutch  of  South  Africa,  only 
speak  the  Taal.  This,  it  may  be  objected,  unfairly 
swells  the  British  total.  But  against  this  we  must 
offset  the  millions  of  emigrants  who  have  studded  the 
United  States  with  patches  of  the  Old  World,  and 
who,  until  the  next  generation  has  been  passed  through 
the  schools,  cannot  be  described  as  English  speakers. 
Roughly  speaking,  the  figures  given  above  may  be  said 
to  represent  the  comparative  numerical  strength  of  the 
two  sections  of  the  English-speaking  world.  The  Re- 
publican section  has  forged  ahead  of  that  which  clings 
to  the  Monarchy.  Nor  is  there  any  prospect  that  their 
relative  positions  will  be  reversed.  As  John  the  Bap- 
tist said  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  so  Britain  may  say  to  the 
United  States,  "He  must  increase  but  I  must  decrease." 
The  Baptist  did  not  repine,  neither  should  we. 

The  Briton,  instead  of  chafing  against  this  inevitable 
supersession,  should  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  the  decree 
of  Destiny,  and  stand  in  betimes  with  the  conquering 
American.  The  philosophy  of  common  sense  teaches 
us  that,  seeing  we  can  never  again  be  the  first,  stand- 
ing alone,  vv«  should  lose  no  time  in  uniting  our  forr 

5 


The  Supreme  Power 

tunes  with  those  who  have  passed  us  in  the  race.  Has 
.  the  time  not  come  when  we  should  make  a  resolute 
effort  to  realize  the  unity  of  the  English-speaking  race  ? 
What  have  we  to  gain  by  perpetuating  the  schism  that 
we  owe  to  the  perversity  of  George  the  Third  and  the 
determination  of  his  pig-headed  advisers  "to  put  the 
thing  through"  and  chastise  the  insolence  of  these  re- 
volted colonists  by  "fighting  to  a  finish"?  As  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  English-speaking  federation,  we 
should  continue  to  enjoy  not  only  undisturbed,  but  with 
enhanced  prestige,  our  pride  of  place,  while  if  we  re- 
main outside,  nursing  our  Imperial  insularity  on  monar- 
chical lines,  we  are  doomed  to  play  second  fiddle  for 
the  rest  of  our  existence.  Why  not  finally  recognize 
the  truth  and  act  upon  it?  What  sacrifices  are  there 
which  can  be  regarded  as  too  great  to  achieve  the 
realization  of  the  ideal  of  the  unity  of  the  English- 
speaking  race? 

Consider  for  a  moment  what  at  present  is  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  surface  of  this  planet  among  the  va- 
rious races  of  mankind.  Instead  of  counting  Britain 
and  the  United  States  as  two  separate  and  rival  States, 
let  us  pool  the  resources  of  the  Empire  and  the  Re- 
public and  regard  them  with  all  their  fleets,  armies, 
and  industrial  resources  as  a  political,  or,  if  you  like, 
an  Imperial  unit. 

The  English-speaking  States,  with  a  population  of 
121,000,000  self-governing  white  citizens,  govern  353.- 
ooo.ooo  of  Asiatics  and  Africans.  Under  their  allied 
flags  labor  one-third  of  the  human  race. 

The  sea,  which  covers  three-fourths  of  the  surface 
6 


World  Conquerors 


of  the  planet,  is  their  domain.  Excepting  on  the  Eux- 
ine  and  the  Caspian,  no  ship  dare  plough  the  salt  seas 
in  Eastern  or  Western  hemisphere  if  they  choose  to  for- 
bid it.  They  are  supreme  custodians  of  the  waterways 
of  the  world,  capable  by  their  fiat  of  blockading  into 
submission  any  European  State  contemplating  an  ap- 
peal to  the  arbitrament  of  war. 

Of  the  dry  land,  they  have  occupied  and  are  ruling 
all  the  richest  territories  in  three  continents.  With  the 
exception  of  Siberia  they  have  seized  all  the  best  gold- 
mines of  the  world.  There  is  hardly  a  region  where 
white  men  can  breed  and  live  and  thrive  that  they  have 
not  appropriated.  They  have  picked  out  the  eyes  of 
every  continent.  They  reign  in  the  land  of  the  Pha- 
raohs, they  have  conquered  the  Empire  of  Aurungzebe, 
and  have  seized  with  imperious  hand  the  dominions  of 
Spain.  They  have  despoiled  the  Portuguese,  the 
French,  and  the  Dutch,  and  have  left  to  the  German 
and  the  Italian  nothing  but  the  scraps  and  knuckle- 
bones of  a  colonial  dominion. 

The  net  result  works  out  as  follows : — 


Country. 

Square 
Miles. 

Population. 

White. 

Colored. 

The  United  States  
The  British  Empire..  .  . 

Total 

3,754,000 
11,894,000 

66,000,000 
55,000,000 

20,000,000 
333,000,000 

15,648,000 

121,000,000 

353,000,000 

Warned  Off 

The  rest  of  the  world  cuts  but  a  poor  figure  com- 
pared with  the  possessions  of  the  English-speaking 

allies. 


Country. 

Square 

Miles. 

Population. 

White. 

Colored. 

Russia       

8,754,000 
1,327,308 
8,215,858 
3,845,000 
1,238,000 
13,293,000 

121,000,000 

15,000,000 
39,000,000 
55,000,000 
134,000,000 

12,000,000 
400,000,000 
60,000,000 
46,000,000 
15,000,000 
129,000,000 

China 

Latin  America  

France 

Germany 

All  others 

The  lion's  share  of  the  world  is  ours,  not  only  in  bulk, 
but  in  tid-bits  also.  The  light  land  of  the  Sahara  is  not 
worth  a  centime  an  acre.  The  vast  area  of  German 
South  Africa  would  hardly  provide  a  livelihood  for  the 
population  of  a  middle-sized  German  village.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  the  Amoor,  the 
Volga,  the  Platte  and  the  Amazon,  nearly  all  the  great 
navigable  rivers  of  the  world  enter  the  sea  under  the 
Union  Jack  or  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  The  valley  of 
the  Yang-tse-Kiang  is  earmarked  as  the  sphere  of  our 
influence.  The  whole  of  the  North  American  Conti- 
nent, from  the  North  Pole  to  the  frontier  of  Mexico,  is. 
within  the  ring  fence  of  the  English-speaking  race,  and 
from  the  whole  of  Central  and  Southern  America  all 
trespassers  have  been  emphatically  warned  off  by  the 
proclamation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
8 


Drunkards  and  Pharisees 

Population  should  be  weighed  as  well  as  counted. 
In  a  census  return  a  Hottentot  counts  for  as  much  as 
a  Cecil  Rhodes ;  a  mean  white  on  a  southern  swamp  is 
the  census  equivalent  for  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  or  Mr. 
Edison. 

A  nation  which  has  no  illiterates  can  hardly 
be  counted  off  against  the  Russians,  only  three  per 
cent,  of  whom  can  read  or  write.  Excluding  France 
and  Germany  and  the  highly  civilized  group  of  small 
states,  Scandinavian,  Dutch  and  Swiss,  the  English- 
speaking  world  comes  out  easily  on  top,  no  matter 
what  test  of  civilization  is  employed. 

We  have  more  schools  to  the  square  mile,  more  col- 
leges to  the  county,  more  universities  to  the  State 
than  any  of  the  others.  We  print  more  books,  read 
more  newspapers,  run  more  libraries.  We  have  more 
churches  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  population,  and 
attend  them  better.  Our  death  rate  is  diminishing  even 
more  rapidly  than  our  birth  rate,  our  pauperism  is  de- 
creasing, our  criminal  statistics  are  reassuring.  Only 
in  one  respect  do  we  fall  below  the  average.  We  are 
the  most  drunken  race  in  the  whole  world — the  most 
drunken  and  in  both  our  branches  the  most 
Pharisaical. 

We  are  as  piratical  as  the  worst  of  our  neighbors, 
but  we  alone  make  broad  our  phylacteries  while  we  are 
plundering,  and  pray  while  we  prey.  In  all  the  ma- 
terial tests  of  advancing  civilization,  railways,  steam- 
ships, telephones,  telegraphs,  electric  trolleys,  sanitary 
appliances,  and  the  like,  we  beat  the  world. 

If  from  a  comparison  between  the  English-speaking 

9 


The  Weight  of  Numbers 

duality  and  the  rest  of  the  planet  we  pass  to  a  com- 
parison between  the  two  English-speaking  races,  some 
curious  results  come  out.  The  United  States,  which 
has  shot  ahead  of  us  in  population,  has  comparatively 
only  a  small  area.  ''  The  total  superficial  area  of  the 
United  States  is  only  3,603,844  square  miles  on  the 
mainland.  The  total  area  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and 
the  Philippine  Islands  will  not  add  more  than  100,000 
square  miles  to  that  total. 

But  the  British  Empire  has  3,456,383  square  miles 
in  Canada,  3,076,763  in  Australia,  and  1,808,258  in 
India.  The  vast  expanses  of  Canada  and  Australia 
are  but  sparsely  peopled  ;  there  is  elbow  room  in  both 
for  a  greater  population  than  that  which  the  United 
States  carries  to-day. 

The  following  comparison  of  populations  is  inter- 
esting, excluding  colored  persons  :  — 

1901  1900 

United  States  (not  ) 
England  ...........  31,231,684        including  those  5-  57,422,000 


Wales  1,294,032    Virginia 

1,854,184 
4,821,550 
7,118,012 

6,302,115 
3,106,665 
908,355 
1,068,539 

Scotland  4  471  957     Illinois 

Ireland  4,456,  546    New  York.  .'.'.  '.'.'.[.'. 
Canada                     -5  5>I°5,99°    Pennsylvania 

Australia                      3  726  450    Missouri 

New  Zealand  773'.44Q    Connecticut.  .'  .'  .  '.'.  '.  '. 
South  Africa  and  )     1,000,000    ^  ,       , 
Miscellaneous..  }  (estimated)  Nebraska  

These  figures  do  not  pretend  to  be  exact.     No  one 
really  knows  how  many  white  citizens  of  the  British 
Empire  are  scattered  over  the  myriad-peopled  regions 
JO 


Comparative  Wealth 


where  we  maintain  the  Roman  peace,  how  many  are  on 
the  high  seas,  and  how  many  are  doing  sentry  go 
all  round  the  world.  A  million  is  probably  not  an  un- 
fair estimate.  The  comparison  is  interesting,  and  may 
be  suggestive  to  some  readers  who  have  never  quite 
realized  that  there  are  single  states  in  the  American 
Union  with  a  population  greater  than  that  of  the  whole 
Dominion  of  Canada  or  the  kingdom  of  Scotland. 

When  the  comparison  is  made  between  finance, 
railways  and  shipping,  and  there  is  no  distinction 
made  between  colored  and  white  men,  the  British 
Empire,  with  its  multitudinous  host  of  dark-skinned 
races,  is  easily  preponderant. 

The  comparison  works  out  somewhat  as  follows : — 


Country. 

Area. 

Revenue. 
£ 

Railways 

Shipping-. 
Tons. 

Exports 
and 
Imports. 

United  Kingdom  
Colonies     and    Depen- 

Sq.  Miles. 

121,000 

Millions. 

120 

Miles. 
21,659 

54, 

Millions. 
9 

Millions. 
815 

rl,429, 

TOTAL.  .   
United  States  

11,550,000 
3,700,000 

230 
139 

75,659 
184,278 

10 

4* 

1,016 

380 

GRAND  TOTAL  

15,250,000 

369 

259.937 

IS 

1.396 

Mr.  Chauncey  McGovern  contributed  to  Pearson's 
Magazine  last  October  a  curious  comparison  between 
the  English-speaking  States  and  Russia,  France,  and 
Spain,  from  which  I  extract  the  following  Table : — 

The  English-Speaking  United  States  of  the  World.     Russia,  France  and  Spain. 


Area 15,636,000  square  miles. 

Population 473,500,000 

Revenue .£379,800,000 

National  Debts.  .£1,560,705,000 

Railways 267, 150  miles. 

Exports £825,251,600 

Merchant  Ships.  19,236,000  tons. 

Naval  Guns 13,319 


12,320,000  square  miles. 
217,218,000 
"£133,103,000 
£2,281,951,000 

67,260  miles. 
£239,920,600 

3,037,000  tons. 
IQ.QQ3 

n 


A  Combination 

A  more  detailed  comparison  between  the  English- 
speaking  States  and  France,  Russia,  and  Germany, 
was  made  by  Sir  Richard  Temple  in  September,  1899. 
I  quote  his  figures  as.jthey  stand  without  attempting  to 
bring  them  up  to  date : — 

English-Speaking.  Russia,  Germany  and  Spain. 

Population. 

White 125,000,  o<x 

Colored 3j;>,Goo,ooc 


475,000,000 


White 221,, 

Colored 64,000,000 


Area. 
15}  millions  square  miles.  I       13^  millions  square  miles. 

Coast  Line. 
62,000  miles  and  19  first-rate  harbors.      |       17,000  miles  and  5  harbors. 

Railways. 

358,000  miles.       |       79,500  miles. 
l  Tra 


285,000,000 


A 

;£l,6oO,000,000.  |  ;£l,  120,  000,  000. 


English-Speaking.  Russia,  Germany  and  France. 


Shipping. 
11,000,000  tons 


Fisheries. 

320,000. 
Coal  Output. 
405,000,000. 
Afa 


Iron  Ore. 

25,000,000. 
Revenue. 
^377,000,000. 
A  rmies. 
1,000,000. 


Shipping. 


,750,000  to 
Fisheries. 


100,000. 


Coal  Output. 


Iron  Ore. 
20,000,000  tons. 

Revenue. 
^405,000,000. 

38,000,000  "tons.    |  7,000,000. 

Navies.—  381  ships. 

This  represents  a  greater  factor  of  organized  force 
than  has  ever  before  been  at  the  disposal  of  a  single  race. 

The  question  arises  whether  this  gigantic  aggregate 
can  be  pooled.  We  live  in  the  day  of  combinations. 
Is  there  no  Morgan  who  will  undertake  to  bring  about 
the  greatest  combination  of  all — a  combination  of  the 
whole  English-speaking  race? 

The  same  motive  which  has  led  to  the  building  up 
of  the  Trust  in  the  industrial  world,  may  bring  about 
this  great  combination  in  the  world  of  politics.  It  is 
not  a  sentimental  craze.  The  question  is  prompted  by 
the  most  solid  of  material  considerations.  Why  should 
we  not  combine?  We  should  be  stronger  as  against 
outside  attack,  and  what  is  of  far  greater  importance, 
J2 


A  Plea  for  Unity 

there  would  be  much  less  danger  of  the  fierce  indus-  ' 
trial  rivalry  that  is  to  come  leading  to  international  • 
strain  and  war. 

New  York  competes  with  Massachusetts  and  Penn- 
sylvania with  Illinois,  but  no  matter  how  severe  may 
be  the  competition,  its  stress  never  strains  the  federal 
tie.  States  in  a  federal  Union  are  as  free  to  compete 
with  each  other  as  are  towns  in  an  English  county,  but 
being  united  in  one  organic  whole  the  war  of  trade 
never  endangers  the  public  peace.  Why  should  we  not 
aim  at  the  same  goal  in  international  affairs?  If  the 
English-speaking  world  were  unified  even  to  the  ex- 
tent of  having  a  central  court  for  the  settlement  of  all 
Anglo-American  controversies,  our  respective  manu- 
facturers would  be  free  to  compete  without  any  risk  of 
their  trade  rivalry  endangering  good  relations  between 
the  Empire  and  the  Republic.  And  that  would  be  again 
worth  making  no  small  sacrifice  in  order  to  secure. 

The  tendency  of  the  last  half  century  has  been  all  in 
favor  of  the  unification  of  peoples  who  speak  the  same 
language.  It  is  not  likely  to  slacken  in  the  new  cen- 
tury. The  Nineteenth  Century  unified  Germany  and 
Italy.  Will  the  Twentieth  Century  unify  the  English- 
speaking  race? 

It  is  a  momentous  question.  The  remembrance  of 
the  via  dolorosa  of  blood  and  tears  by  which  the  Ger- 
man race  attained  to  unity  may  well  deter  the  timid 
from  suggesting  that  the  English-speaking  world 
should  essay  to  reach  the  same  goal.  But  the  story 
of  how  the  Germans  realized  their  national  unity  is 
full  of  suggestion  for  us,  both  for  encouragement  and 
for  warning.  For  the  German  race  a  hundred  years 


The  Rise  of  Germany 

since  was  very  much  like  the  English-speaking  race  to- 
day. Austria  then  was  what  Great  Britain  is  now.* 
She  had  the  prestige  of  antiquity,  the  Imperial  aureole 
/  was  round  her  brow,  she  reigned  over  many  races  of 
various  tongues,  and  she  was  as  proud  as  Lucifer. 
Over  against  her  were  the  Prussians — the  Americans 
of  their  time. 

They  were  young  and  enterprising;  the  Hohenzol- 
lerns  were  but  upstart  parvenus  besides  the  Hapsburgs, 
but  they  had  the  genius  for  organization,  the  instinct 
for  education,  and  a  passionate  patriotism.  Between 
these  two  lay  the  minor  German  States,  who  corre- 
sponded not  inaptly  to  the  various  English-speaking 
colonies  which  look  to  Britain  as  their  natural  head, 
very  much  as  the  South  German  States  regarded  Aus- 
tria, who  presided  over  the  Bund,  as  the  pivot  of  the 
German  political  system.  In  the  presence  of  national 
rivalries  so  intense,  and  political  barriers  so  innumer- 

»  When  I  was  revising  the  proofs  of  this  chapter,  I  was  considerably  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  London  correspondent  of  the  fforoye  Vrcmya  in  Octo- 
ber last  had  already  called  attention  to  the  analogy  between  Great  Britain  and 
Austria.  He  pushed  the  parallel  still  further  home.  He  declared  that  the 
true  parallel  of  the  present  situation  must  be  sought  not  in  the  relations  that 
existed  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  between  Prussia  and  Aus- 
tria, but  rather  in  those  which  existed  at  present  between  the  German  Empire 
and  Austria,  for,  in  his  opinion,  the  Tjnited  States  have  already  established 
over  Great  Britain  the  same  kind  of  protectorate  as  the  German  Empire  has 
established  over  the  Austrian  member  of  the  Triple  Alliance.  He  says  • 

"  Everything  proves  that  Great  Britain  is  now  practically  dependent  upon 
the  United  States,  and  for  all  international  intents  and  purposes  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  under  an  American  protectorate. 

"Just  as  Germany  has  used  Austria  for  her  own  purposes,  while  guarding 
her  from  external  and  internal  dangers,  so  does  America  take  advantage  of 
British  needs  and  weakness,  caring  for  England  only  in  so  far  as  self-interest 
prompts  it.  The  United  States  has  but  just  entered  upon  the  policy  of  ex- 
ploiting the  protected  kingdom.  .  .  . 

"  The  British  have  lost  all  pride  in  their  relation  to  the  United  States.  They 
admit  that  they  cannot  successfully  resist  the  republic.  They  no  longer 
trust  to  their  strength,  but  place  their  reliance  on  the  racial,  literary  and  social 
ties  which  attract  the  Americans  to  England.  In  this  surrender  to  the  Amer- 
icans there  is  a  sentimental  motive  as  well  as  a  practical  one.  Losing  her 
maritime,  commercial,  and  even  financial  primacy,  England  can  bear  with 
more  resignation  the  passing  of  this  primacy  to  a  nation  akin  to  her  in  lan- 
guage, civilization,  and  even  blood." 


English-Speaking  Unity 

able,  the  idea  of  German  unity  seemed  an  idler  dream 
in  i So i  than  the  idea  of  English-speaking  unity  seems 
in  1901. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  consequence  of  allow- 
ing the  German  race  to  persist  in  its  dual  organization. 
As  Bismarck  wrote  in  1856:  "For  a  thousand  years, 
ever  since  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  German  Dualism 
has  regularly  resettled  its  mutual  relations  once  a  cen- 
tury by  a  thorough-going  internal  war,  and  in  this  cen- 
tury also  that  will  prove  to  be  the  only  feasible  expedi- 
ent for  arranging  matters  satisfactorily."* 

Ten  years  later  Bismarck,  at  Sadowa,  settled  mat- 
ters to  his  satisfaction  at  least,  but  to  this  day  one 
menace  to  the  peace  of  central  Europe  arises  from 
the  fact  that  some  eight  million  Germans  were  left 
outside  the  national  fold. 

Between  the  two  sections  of  the  English-speaking 
race  there  has  been  one  war  a  century  so  far.  There 
is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  the  average  will  be 
kept  up,  unless  in  some  way  or  other  the  mischievous 
work  of  George  III.  can  be  undone.  It  is,  of  course, 
manifestly  impossible,  even  if  it  were  desirable,  for  the 
Americans  to  come  back  within  the  pale  of  the  British 
Empire.  But  if  that  is  impossible,  there  remains  the 
other  alternative.  Why  should  not  we  of  the  older 
stock  propose  to  make  amends  for  the  folly  of  our 
ancestors  by  recognizing  that  the  hegemony  of  the 
race  has  passed  from  Westminster  to  Washington, 
and  proposing  to  federate  the  Empire  and  the  Repub- 
lic on  whatever  terms  may  be  arrived  at,  after  dis- 
cussion, as  a  possible  basis  for  the  reunion  of  our  race. 

•  "Our  Chancellor."    Busch,  vol.  i.,  p.  323. 


Words  of  Wisdom 

The  suggestion  will  be  derided  as  a  dream.  But  to 
quote  the  familiar  saying  of  Russell  Lowell,  "It  is 
none  the  worse  for  that ;  most  of  the  best  things  we 
now  possess  began  by  being  dreams." 

Mr.  Balfour,  six  years  ago,  declared  "that  the  idea  of 
war  with  the  United  States  of  America  carries  with  it 
something  of  the  unnatural  horror  of  civil  war." 
Since  then  many  things  have  happened  to  strengthen 
that  sentiment.  But  even  then  he  could  use  these 
eloquent  words : — 

"  I  feel,  so  far  as  I  can  speak  for  my  countrymen,  that  our 
pride  in  the  race  to  which  we  belong  is  a  pride  which  includes 
every  English-speaking  community  in  the  world.  We  have  a 
domestic  patriotism,  as  Scotchmen  or  Englishmen  or  as  Irish- 
men, or  what  you  will,  we  have  an  Imperial  patriotism  as  citi- 
zens of  the  British  Empire  ;  but  surely,  in  addition  to  that, 
we  have  also  an  Anglo-Saxon  patriotism  which  embraces 
within  its  ample  folds  the  whole  of  that  great  race  which  has 
done  so  much  in  every  branch  of  human  effort,  and  in  that 
branch  of  human  effort  which  has  produced  free  institutions 
and  free  communities." 

And  he  added  some  words  of  wisdom  with  which  I 
will  close  this  chapter: — 

«•  We  may  be  taxed  with  being  idealists  and  dreamers  in  this 
matter.  I  would  rather  be  an  idealist  and  a  dreamer,  and  I 
look  forward  with  confidence  to  the  time  when  our  ideals  will 
have  become  real  and  our  dreams  will  be  embodied  in  actual 
political  fact.  For,  after  all,  circumstances  will  tend  in  that 
direction  in  which  we  look." 

In  a  subsequent  chapter,  I  attempt  to  describe  some 
of  these  circumstances  which  already  enable  us  to 
foresee  the  trend  of  the  Twentieth  Century: — 

'Where  is  a  Briton's  Fatherland  ?  A  Briton's  Fatherland  is  there. 

Will  no  one  tell  me  of  that  land  ?  Our  glorious  Anglo-Saxon  race 

'Tis  where  one  meets  with  English  Shall  ever  fill  earth's  highest  place, 

folk,  The  sun  shall  never  more  go  down 

And  hears  the   tongue  that  Shake-  On  English  temple,  tower  and  town ; 

speare  spoke;  And  wander  where  a  Briton  will. 

Where  songs  of  Burns  are  in  the  air,  His  Fatherland  shall  hold  him  still." 

16 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Second 

The  Basis  for  Reunion 

LET  it  be  admitted,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  our  argu- 
icnt,  that  the  establishment  of  English-speaking 
unity  is  a  matter  to  be  desired  in  the  interest  alike 
of  the  peace  of  the  world  and  the  liberties  of  man- 
kind. The  question  next  arises,  how  can  this  unity 
most  easily  and  effectually  be  brought  about?  In 
attempting  to  answer  this  question,  I  disclaim  in  ad- 
vance any  accusation  that  I  am  imperilling  the  end 
in  view  by  an  inconsiderate  precipitance  in  pressing 
for  the  adoption  of  measures  that  promise  to  lead 
in  that  direction. 

I  only  seek  to  discuss  tendencies,  to  estimate  forces, 
and  to  forecast  the  probable  course  of  the  natural 
evolution  of  the  existing  factors  in  the  Empire  and 
the  Republic,  and  in  the  nations  on  their  frontiers. 
In  presence  of  a  problem  so  immense,  fraught  with 
consequences  so  momentous  for  the  weal  or  woe  of 
mankind,  it  would  be  presumption  to  attempt  to  pro- 
claim solutions  before  the  governing  factors  have 
been  clearly  discerned. 

17 


Anglo  or  American 

Nevertheless,  it  may  not  be  impossible  for  even  the 
cursory  observer  to  see  the  trend  of  events,  if  he 
keeps  his  attention  fixed  upon  the  salient  features 
of  the  situation.  If  the  two  English-speaking  States 
are  to  come  together;  it  is  obvious  that  there  must  be 
some  approximation  towards  a  system  which  may  be 
accepted  by  all  the  world-scattered  communities  of 
English-speaking  men. 

This  being  admitted,  the  question  immediately  arises 
as  to  whether  the  Empire  will  approximate  to  the 
Republic,  or  the  Republic  to  the  Empire.  Are  we  to 
Americanize  our  institutions,  or  may  we  expect  to  see 
the  Americans  Anglicizing  their  Constitution?  Or 
may  we  anticipate  that  the  future  normal  system  of 
polity  for  the  English-speaking  world  will  be  arrived 
at  by  such  an  exact  balance  between  the  English  and 
American  elements,  that  the  product  will  be  strictly 
Anglo-American,  and  not  more  American  than  it  is 
Anglo  ? 

not  very  difficult  to  answer  these  questions, 
first  place,  what  is  the  fundamental  difference 
between  the  British  and  American  Constitutions? 
That  which  differentiates  them  much  more  than  the 
fact  that  the  head  of  one  is  hereditary  and  of  the 
other  elective,  is  the  fact  that  we  have  no  written 
Constitution  of  any  kind,  whereas  the  American  Con- 
stitution is  the  best  known  type  of  a  written  Consti- 
tution in  existence. 

The  Constitution  of  the  reunited  English-speaking 
race  must  of  necessity  be  written.  Not  even  the 
most  uncompromising  Britisher  would  venture  to  sug- 


*M^»V   . 

It  is 
In  the  1 


The  New  Constitution 

gest  that  mankind  will  ever  again  attempt  to  repeat 
the  experiment  which  has  worked  for  so  long  with 
such  miraculous  success  in  Great  Britain.  If  we  seek 
for  confirmation  of  this,  we  have  only  to  turn  to  the 
recent  history  of  our  greatest  colonies.  When  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  was  constituted,  the  federation 
was  embodied  in  a  written  Constitution. 

Last  year  the  same  thing  occurred  in  the  creation 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia.  If  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  succeeded  in  carrying  his  Home  Rule  Bill, 
that  measure  would  have  been  the  written  Constitu- 
tion or  fundamental  Charter  of  the  new  Government 
of  Ireland.  The  adoption  of  some  sort  of  written 
Constitution  is  therefore  inevitable,  and  by  its  adop- 
tion the  fundamental  feature  of  the  Re-united  States 
would  become  American,  not  British. 

After  the  difference  of  written  and  unwritten  Con-}    A 
stitutions,  the  Empire  and  the  Republic  differ  mostl 
visibly  in  the  way  in  which  they  appoint  their  heads/ 
The  Americans  elect  their  President  for  four  years. 
The  British  crown  for  life  the  eldest  son  of  the  de- 
ceased sovereign. 

The  comparative  advantages  of  a  Constitutional 
Monarchy  and  of  a  democratic  Republic  need  not  be 
discussed  here.  The  Americans  themselves  might  be 
the  first  to  object  to  the  disappearance  of  the 
Monarchy.  The  Crown  might  remain  as  a  picturesque 
historical  symbol,  as  a  distinctively  British  institu- 
tion as  local  as,  although  much  more  ornamental  than, 
the  London  fog.  But  not  even  the  most  perfervid 
Royalist  in  his  wildest  dreams  can  conceive  the  possi- 


An  American  Mould 

bility  of  the  Americans  ever  consenting  to  become 
the  loyal  subjects  of  a  descendant  of  George  III.  Even 
if  they  developed  a  taste  for  monarchy,  they  would 
make  it  the  first  condition  of  their  sovereign  that  he 
should  be  a  thorough  American. 

No  foreign-born  citizen,  no  matter  what  service  he 
may  have  rendered  the  State,  no  matter  how  long  he 
may  have  been  naturalized,  can  occupy  the  presiden- 
tial chair,  even  for  the  space  of  four  years.  If  the 
Head  of  the  State  were  to  occupy  the  American  throne 
for  life,  and  leave  it  to  his  sons  and  his  sons'  sons  after 
him,  the  condition  of  genuine  native-born  Americanism 
would  be  insisted  upon  more  passionately  than  ever. 
The  conversion  of  the  Americans  to  the  principle  of 
monarchy,  instead  of  facilitating  the  race  union,  would 
create  a  new  and  very  serious  obstacle  in  the  shape  of 
rival  dynasties. 

Of  that,  however,  there  is  fortunately  no  danger. 
If,  therefore,  race  union  is  to  be  accomplished,  the 
future  head  of  the  reunited  States  will  be  elective  and 
republican,  even  if  the  monarchy  continues  to  be 
cherished  in  these  islands  as  a  distinctly  local  institu- 
tion. Here  also  the  mould  of  the  future  destinies  of 
our  race  will  be  American  and  not  British. 

After  the  monarchy,  the  American  differs  from  the 
British  Constitution  chiefly  in  the  repudiation  by  the 
former  of  the  principle  of  hereditary  legislation  and 
of  an  Established  Church,  and  the  acceptance,  with 
all  its  logical  consequences,  of  the  principle  of  gov- 
ernment of  the  people  by  salaried  representatives 
chosen  by  constituencies  in  strict  proportion  to  their 
20 


Colonial  Independence 

numbers,  as  ascertained  at  each  decennial  census. 
These  are  the  notes  which,  to  the  casual  observer, 
differentiate  the  two  Constitutions.  Which  of  them 
will  be  the  key-note  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Reunited 
Race? 

In  discussing  this  question  let  us  assume  that  the 
Americans  themselves  will  be  passive  in  this  matter, 
and  that  the  decision  to  be  taken  will  rest  solely  with 
the  subjects  of  the  King.  If  a  plebiscite  were  to  be 
taken  to-morrow,  and  every  white  male  adult  in  the 
Empire  were  to  be  asked  to  vote  for  or  against  heredi- 
tary legislation,  an  Established  Church,  and  our  pres- 
ent illogical  system  of  unpaid  Parliamentary  repre- 
sentation, what  would  be  the  result?  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  even  now  the  majority  of  British  sub- 
jects would  be  in  favor  of  the  American  view. 

In  England,  no  doubt,  the  majority  would  be  in 
favor  of  the  ancient  time-honored  institutions.  But 
Wales  and  Ireland  would  cast  heavy  majorities  on  the 
other  side,  and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  Scot- 
land would  not  go  the  same  way.  The  most  signifi- 
cant factor,  however,  remains  to  be  noticed.  We  boast 
that  we  have  encircled  the  world  with  self-governing 
colonies,  but  without  a  single  exception  every  one  of 
these  colonies,  while  rejoicing  in  the  shelter  of  the 
Union  Jack,  and  enthusiastically  loyal  to  the  person  of 
the  Sovereign,  has  organized  its  own  Constitution  on 
American  as  opposed  to  British  lines. 

Not  a  colony  has  transplanted  across  the  seas  either 
a  hereditary  chamber,  an  Established  Church,  or  the 
English  system  of  unpaid  unequal  representation.  The 

21 


Democracy  of  the  Colonies 

descendants  of  George  III.  retained  the  allegi- 
ance of  the  colonies  by  allowing  them  one  and  all  to 
frame  their  constitution  on  the  principles  of  George 
'  Washington.  The  English  segment  of  Great  Britain 
may  be  true  to  the  distinctive  British  institutions,  but 
Greater  Britain  repudiates  them  with  absolute  unanim- 
ity. 

Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid  was  the  American  special  rep- 
resentative at  the  Jubilee  of  1897.  He  saw  London  in 
the  very  heyday  of  British  loyalty  and  enthusiasm. 
Among  the  thousands  who  thronged  our  capital,  none 
were  more  demonstratively  loyal,  more  impassioned 
in  their  expressions  of  devotion  to  the  Old  Country 
and  its  institutions  than  the  Colonial  Premiers.  But 
Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  who  studied  them  closely,  was 
startled  to  discover  that  one  and  all  of  these  highly 
placed  Ministers  of  the  Crown  were,  to  quote  his  own 
phrase,  "downright  Yankees." 

I  asked  him  to  explain  that  dark  and  Delphic  say- 
ing. He  replied :  "What  I  mean  is  that  these  men  are 
not  in  the  least  like  British  Ministers  or  any  of  your 
English  politicians.  Their  point  of  view  is  American. 
Their  political  ideas  are  the  same  as  ours.  They  are 
loyal  to  the  Queen,  no  doubt,  but  that  is  a  thing  apart. 
In  their  work-a-day  politics  they  are  as  Republican  as 
ourselves.  They  start  from  the  same  principles,  they 
reason  in  the  same  way,  and  they  arrive  at  the  same 
conclusions.  Not  one  of  them  would  tolerate  a  House 
of  Lords  in  his  own  colony,  or  an  Established  Church. 
Even  on  Free  Trade  their  ideas  are  more  American 
than  British.  In  talking  to  them  I  am  never  conscious 

22 


Tottering  British  Institutions 

of  that  break  of  gauge  which  I  constantly  feel  in  talk- 
ing to  a  British  statesman." 

We  may  take  it,  then,  as  tolerably  manifest  that 
the  distinctively  British  institutions  of  a  hereditary 
legislature  and  an  Established  Church  will  not  figure 
among  the  institutions  of  the  Reunited  Race,  even 
though  they  may  be  left  for  a  time  in  England.  It  is 
even  possible  that  the  growth  of  a  popular  desire  in 
England  itself  to  rid  ourselves  of  these  institutions  may 
lead  indirectly  to  union  with  the  great  English-speak- 
ing community  which  is  freed  from  their  evil  influence. 

All  this  means  one  thing  and  one  thing  only.  It 
is  we  who  are  going  to  be  Americanized ;  the  advance 
will  have  to  be  made  on  our  side ;  it  is  idle.to  hope,  and 
it  is  not  at  all  to  be  desired,  that  the  Americans  will 
attempt  to  meet  us  half  way  by  saddling  themselves 
with  institutions  of  which  many  of  us  are  longing 
earnestly  to  get  rid. 

Even  if  there  were  no  other  reason  for  this,  suffi- 
cient cause  would  be  found  in  the  fact  that  while  every 
American  is  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  his  own  Con- 
stitution, it  is  difficult  to  find  an  Englishman  who 
does  not  admit  that  his  own  Constitution  is  in  a  very 
bad  way. 

I  do  not  confine  this  remark  to  the  Irish,  the  Welsh, 
and  the  English  and  Scotch  Liberals.  They  are 
naturally  in  revolt  against  the  permanent  veto  upon 
all  Liberal  legislation  vested  in  the  permanent  ma- 
jority which  their  political  opponents  enjoy  in  the 
Upper  House. 

I  find  the  bitterest  complaints  against  the  breakdown 

23 


Basis  of  American  Greatness 

of  the  constitutional  machine  in  the  Conservative 
Quarterly,  and  in  the  speeches  of  thorough-going  Min- 
isterialists. The  Parliamentary  machine  has  broken 
down  before  our  eyes.  That  fact  there  is  none  to 
dispute.  Authorities  differ  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
breakdown,  and  they  differ  still  more  widely  as  to 
the  remedy  to  be  employed.  But  not  even  the  most 
self-satisfied  advocate  for  things  as  they  are  speaks 
of  the  spectacle  at  Westminster  except  in  accents 
of  shame  and  despair. 

Contrast  this  with  the  tone  in  which  every  Ameri- 
can habitually  speaks,  and  what  is  more,  actually  thinks 
of  his  Constitution.  Mr.  Bryce,  in  the  very  first 
page  of  his  admirable  work  on  the  American  Common- 
wealth, calls  attention  to  the  immense,  almost  religious, 
respect  which  the  Americans  pay  to  their  institutions. 
It  is  not  merely,  says  Mr.  Bryce,  that  they  are  sup- 
posed to  form  an  experiment  of  unequalled  importance 
on  a  scale  unprecedentedly  vast.  It  is  because  they 
are  something  more  than  an  experiment ;  "they  are 
believed  to  disclose  and  display  the  type  of  institutions 
toward  which,  as  by  a  law  of  fate,  the  rest  of  civilized 
mankind  are  forced  to  move,  some  with  swifter,  others 
with  slower,  but  all  with  unresting  feet." 

When  you  have  two  parties  in  counsel,  one  of  whom 
is  heartily  ashamed  of  his  system,  while  the  other  is 
absolutely  convinced  that  his  system  is  so  perfect 
that  its  ultimate  universal  adoption  is  only  a  matter  of 
time,  it  needs  no  prophet  to  foresee  which  system  will 
be  adopted  as  the  result  of  their  consultations.  Nor 
can  we  be  surprised  at  the  American's  reverence  for 
his  Constitution  when  we  read  the  terms  in  which  it 
24 


Great  Britain's  Need 

lias  been  spoken  of  by  eminent  Englishmen.  Was  it 
not  Mr.  Gladstone  who  declared? — 

"The  American  Constitution  is,  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given 
time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man.  It  has  had 
a  century  of  trial,  under  the  pressure  of  exigencies 
caused  by  an  expansion  unexampled  in  point  of  rapid- 
ity and  range ;  and  its  exemption  from  formal  change, 
though  not  entire,  has  certainly  proved  the  sagacity 
of  the  constructors  and  the  stubborn  strength  of  the 
fabric."  * 

Nor  is  Mr.  Bryce  less  emphatic,  although  not  so 
brief.  Speaking  of  the  American  Constitution,  he 
says : — 

"After  all  deductions,  it  ranks  above  every  other 
written  Constitution  for  the  intrinsic  excellence 
of  its  scheme,  its  adaptation  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  people,  the  simplicity,  brevity,  and  precision  of 
its  language,  its  judicious  mixture  of  definiteness  in 
principle  with  elasticity  in  details."  f 

It  is  a  notable  and  significant  circumstance  that 
the  one  statesman  who  has  repeatedly  directed  the 
attention  of  the  British  public  to  the  exceeding  ex- 
cellence of  the  American  Constitution  is  none  other 
than  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  the  Tory  Prime  Min- 
ister. It  does  not  matter  that  what  he  admires  most 
in  it  is  the  security  which  it  offers  against  reckless 
innovation,  and  the  guarantee  which  it  gives  to  liberty 
of  contract  and  the  right  of  a  man  to  do  what  he 

*  "  Gleanings  of  Past  Years,"  by  W.E.Gladstone,  vol.  i.,  p. 
812.  f  Bryce's  "American  Commonwealth,"  vol.  i.,  p  27. 

25 


Two  Things  Needed 

('will  with  his  own.  The  fact  remains  that  more  than 
once  Lord  Salisbury  has  cast  a  longing  eye  across  the 
..'Atlantic  to  the  American  Constitution,  lamenting  that 
our  own  Constitution  contained  no  such  safeguards 
as  those  provided  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
American  Republic. 

Still  more  remarkable  is  the  declaration  of  Mr. 
Cecil  Rhodes,  who  long  ago  set  forth  with  his  accus- 
tomed bluntness  that  for  the  salvation  of  the  British 
Empire  only  two  things  were  needed,  "Home  Rule 
and  a  preferential  tariff,  and  if  you  ask  me  why  I 
believe  in  Home  Rule  and  what  I  mean  by  it,  I  say 
to  you  read  the  American  Constitution." 

What  more  need  have  we  of  witnesses? 

The  only  consolation  that  can  be  offered  to  the 
susceptible  Briton  is  that  the  American  Constitution, 
like  the  American  people,  owes  its  origin  to  the  island 
which  was  the  cradle  of  the  race.  The  Americans, 
in  fashioning  their  Constitution,  imported  it  from 
England  via  France,  to  which  country  they  subse- 
quently re-exported  it  in  spirit  though  not  in  form, 
with  results  not  even  yet  fully  worked  out. 

Montesquieu,  by  his  eulogistic  panegyric  upon  the 
English  Constitution  in  his  "Esprit  des  Loix,"  became 
the  Godfather  of  the  American  Constitution.  But  it 
was  the  Puritan  principles  of  free  democracy  which 
we  exported  in  the  Mayflower  that  fashioned  and  pre- 
pared the  founders  of  the  American  Commonwealth 
for  their  famous  achievement.  So  it  may  fairly  be 
contended  that  in  the  Americanizing  of  the  English- 
speaking  world  it  is  the  spirit  of  Old  England  rein- 
carnate in  the  body  of  Uncle  Sam. 
26 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Third 

The  Americanization  of  Ireland 

IT  is  an  interesting  subject  of  speculation  how  the 
Americanizing  of  the  British  Empire  will  be  brought 
about.  Many  forces  are  working  steadily  in  that  di- 
rection, the  significance  of  which  is  very  imperfectly 
revealed  to  our  eyes.  One  of  the  chief  of  these  is 
seldom  realized,  for  its  operation  is  silent  and  subtle 
as  the  law  of  gravitation. 

It  is,  indeed,  no  other  than  the  law  of  gravitation 
operating  in  the  political  world.  Among  the  heavenly 
bodies  the  less  revolve  around  the  greater.  The  mass 
tells.  You  cannot  build  a  solar  system  in  which  any 
of  the  planets  is  larger  and  heavier  than  the  sun. 

A  hundred  years  ago  Great  Britain  was  the  sun  of 
the  political  system  of  the  English  world.  Her  popu- 
lation was  15,717,287,  whereas  the  population  of 
the  United  States  was  only  5,305,925.  The  Ameri- 
cans had  torn  themselves  off  from  the  British  connec- 
tion, but  they  still  felt  the  pull  which  a  compact  mass 
of  15,717,287  exercises  continuously  upon  a  body  only 
one-third  its  bulk. 

27 


The  Power  of  Citizenship 

For  three-quarters  of  the  century  that  silent  force 
of  gravitation  exerted  its  influence  in  a  continually 
diminishing  degree,  until  after  a  time,  the  two  nations 
being  equipoised,  the  position  of  the  two  States  was 
reversed.  The  United  States  now  began  to  exert  the 
pull  upon  the  United  Kingdom.  The  operation  of 
this  unseen  force  was  for  a  time  obscured,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  smaller  nation  had  taken  to  itself  vast 
masses  of  Asiatic  and  African  subjects.  But  after 
a  time  it  was  perceived  that  they  had  not  made  these 
men  citizens,  and  it  is  only  citizens  who  count. 

The  hundreds  of  millions  of  dusky  subjects  in  Hin- 
dostan  add  nothing  to  the  intrinsic  strength  of  the 
Dritish  people.  They  constitute  part  of  the  "White 
Man's  Burden."  As  elements  in  the  problem  of  politi- 
cal gravitation  they  only  count  because  they  tend  to 
obscure  the  perception  of  the  real  forces  governing  the 
situation.  The  real  kernel  and  nucleus  of  both  States 
is  to  be  found  in  their  white  citizens. 

The  mutual  influence  of  Britain  on  America  and  of 
America  on  England  depends  upon  the  number  and 
the  intelligence  of  their  citizens  and  the  intensity  of 
their  cohesion.  That  cohesion  is  not  necessarily  geo- 
graphical. It  is  in  its  essence  moral,  emotional,  and  in- 
tellectual. In  the  voluntary  association  of  free,  self- 
governing  citizens  lies  the  secret  of  the  strength  of  the 
State. 

Herein  we  touch  upon  another  element  of  weakness 
which  tells  heavily  against  Great  Britain  in  her  com- 
parison with  the  United  States.  The  citizens  of  the 
United  States  to  the  last  man  are  voluntary  citizens. 
28 


A  Vulnerable  Spot 

They  are  proud  of  their  citizenship.  There  are  no 
unwilling  subjects,  in  the  whole  Republic. 

There  are  millions,  literally  millions,  who  have  been 
born  in  other  lands,  but  the  foreign  born  vie  with 
the  natives  in  their  exultant  pride  in  being  citizens  of 
the  United  States.  When  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the 
British  Empire  we  are  confronted  with  a  very  different 
state  of  things.  Close  at  our  doors  lies  a  country  as 
populous  as  any  but  the  two  largest  states  in  the 
American  Union,  the  majority  of  whose  inhabitants 
are  in  a  chronic  state  of  latent  rebellion.  The  major- 
ity of  the  Irish  people  acquiesce  sullenly  in  the  irre- 
sistible logic  of  force  majeure.  They  are  not  proud 
of  British  citizenship.  They  loathe  it.  They  accept 
representation  at  Westminster  solely  in  order  that  they 
may  use  the  vote  which  they  are  allowed  to  exercise 
as  the  only  available  substitute  for  the  pike  and  the 
rifle  the  use  of  which  is  denied  to  them. 

In  this  broad  survey  of  the  comparative  strength 
of  the  two  great  sections  of  the  English-speaking 
world  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  in  Ireland  the 
Achilles  heel  of  the  Empire.  Our  failure  to  win  the 
allegiance  of  the  Irish  is  the  most  fatal  element  in 
the  sum  of  blunders  which  are  transferring  the  leader- 
ship of  our  race  to  our  sons  beyond  the  sea. 

Less  than  forty  years  ago  the  United  States  of 
America  were  torn  in  twain  by  one  of  the  bloodiest  civil 
wars  of  our  time.  For  nearly  five  years  the  whole  na- 
tion was  preoccupied  with  fratricidal  strife.  In  the  end 
the  North  conquered.  The  South,  beaten  flat,  crushed, 
desolated  and  despairing,  sued  for  peace.  The  seced- 

29 


American  Political  Genius 

ing  States  were  forced  back  into  the  Union  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet. 

But  despite  all  waving  of  the  "Bloody  Shirt,"  despite 
a  million  graves  of  slaughtered  men,  and  the  yawn- 
ing chasm  that  lay 'between  the  victors  and  the  van- 
quished, the  breach  was  healed  by  the  re-establishment 
of  Home  Rule.  When  the  war  broke  out  with  Spain 
no  recruits  rallied  to  the  defense  of  the  Star-spangled 
banner  more  heartily  than  the  sons  of  the  men  who, 
under  Davis  and  Lee,  had  shed  their  blood  in  the  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  Union.  Uncle  Sam  has  no  un- 
willing subjects,  not  even  in  the  former  stronghold  of 
secession. 

The  contrast  between  the  complete  reconciliation 
which  has  been  effected  between  North  and  South  in 
America  and  our  utter  failure  to  effect  even  a  modus 
Vivendi  between  the  English,  and  the  Irish,  affords  a 
measure  of  the  difference  between  the  political  genius 
of  the  American  Republic  and  of  the  British  Empire. 

The  secret  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Americans  have 
frankly  and  fully  recognized  the  principle  of  govern- 
ment by  the  consent  of  the  governed,  whereas  only  one- 
half  of  the  English  have  ever  accepted  it.  The  old 
virus  of  absolute  government,  which  was  the  curse  of 
England  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  under  the  Stuarts, 
came  back  after  the  Commonwealth  at  the  Restoration, 
and  was  not  entirely  exorcised  in  1688.  It  revived  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century  under  George  III.,  with  the 
result  that  we  lost  our  American  colonies. 

In  the  Nineteenth  we  succeeded  in  suppressing  it 
everywhere  excepting  in  Ireland.  Here,  thanks  to  the 
30 


The  Cost  of  Aggression 

House  of  Lords,  we  were  able  to  indulge  the  fatal  pro- 
pensity inherent  in  our  Conservatives  of  trying  to 
govern  a  nation  without  its  consent,  against  its  will, 
and  in  opposition  to  its  ideas.  As  a  result,  we  have 
Ireland  and  the  Irish  as  an  element  not  of  strength, 
but  of  weakness.  They  are  as  salt  in  the  mortar  of 
Empire,  whose  weakening  and  dissolving  influence  is 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  United  Kingdom. 

The  presence  of  unwilling  subjects,  of  men  made 
citizens  without  their  consent,  is  ever  a  source  of  weak- 
ness to  States.  But  so  far  are  we  from  having  learned 
that  lesson  that  for  the  last  two  years  we  have  been 
lavishing  all  the  resources  of  the  Empire  in  a  desperate 
attempt  to  compel  within  the  pale  of  our  dominions 
the  most  stubborn  and  unwilling  set  of  subjects  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

An  expenditure  of  20,000  lives  and  £200,000,000 
has  been  incurred  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  the  South 
African  Dutch  to  submit  to  our  dominion.  We  have 
killed  thousands  and  devastated  their  land  in  order  to 
make  them  "our  subjects."  If  they  had  been  willing 
to  become  our  fellow-citizens  they  would  have  been 
a  source  of  strength.  As  men  forced  by  war  to  sub- 
mit to  our  yoke  they  will  become  a  source  of  abiding 
weakness.  We  shall  have  two  Irelands  on  our  hands 
instead  of  one,  and  each  affords  only  too  tempting  an 
opportunity  for  those  who  may  use  the  Americanizing 
trend  of  our  time  for  the  purpose  of  detaching  either 
or  both  from  the  Empire  of  which  at  present  they 
form  part. 

In  view  of  the  possibilities  opened  up  before  us  by 

31 


A  World-Famous  Document 

the  catastrophe  which  has  destroyed  our  self-governed 
dominion  in  South  Africa,  it  may  not  be  without  profit 
if  we  were  carefully  to  read  and  ponder  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  by  which,  on  July  4,  1776,  our  Ameri- 
can colonists  formally  notified  to  the  whole  world  their 
final  severance  from  Great  Britain  and  their  determina- 
tion henceforth  to  work  out  their  own  destinies  as 
sovereign  states. 

I  wonder  how  many  of  my  British  readers  have 
ever  perused  this  famous  document.  Its  reproduce 
tion  here  will  probably  cause  the  seizure  of  this  book 
by  the  military  censors  at  Cape  Town.  But,  not- 
withstanding their  objection,  the  Declaration,  with  its 
carefully  specified  statement  of  the  wrongs  inflicted 
upon  the  Americans  by  the  British  Government,  may 
be  very  profitably  read  and  meditated  upon  to-day. 
For  here  within  the  four  corners  of  a  well  worn  placard 
are  set  forth  in  plain  terms  the  reasons  why  we  lost 
America,  and,  reading  between  the  lines,  we  may  dis- 
cover without  much  difficulty  the  reasons  why  we  shall 
lose  South  Africa  and  Ireland  also,  if  so  be  that  we  do 
not  mend  our  ways.  It  is  doubtful  whether  one  Eng- 
lishman in  a  thousand  has  ever  read  the  Declaration 
through  from  end  to  end.  Yet  a  more  fateful  docu- 
ment it  would  be  hard  to  find  in  the  whole  of  our 
records.  It  is  the  epitaph  of  our  Empire. 


The  Declaration  of  Independence 
In  Congress,  J«ly  4,  1776. 

A  Declaration 

By  the  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America 

In  General  Congress  Assembled 

WHEN  in  the  Course  of  human  Events,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  one  People  to  dissolve  the  Political 
Bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and 
to  assume  among  the  Powers  of  the  Earth,  the  separate 
and  equal  Station  to  which  the  Laws  of  Nature  and 
of  Nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  Respect  to  the 
Opinions  of  Mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare 
the  Causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  Truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all 
Men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  unalienable  Rights,  that  among 
these  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  Pursuit  of  Happi- 
ness. That  to  secure  these  Rights,  Governments  are 
instituted  among  Men,  deriving  their  just  Powers 
from  the  Consent  of  the  Governed,  that  whenever  any 
Form  of  Government  becomes  destructive  of  these 
Ends,  it  is  the  Right  of  the  People  to  alter  or  abolish 
it,  and  to  institute  a  new  Government,  laying  its  foun- 
dation on  such  Principles,  and  organizing  its  Powers 

33 


The  Declaration 

in  such  Form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  Safety  and  Happiness.  Prudence,  indeed, 
will  dictate  that  Governments  long  established  should 
not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  Causes ;  and 
accordingly  all  Experience  has  shown,  that  Mankind 
are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  Evils  are  sufferable, 
than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  Forms  to 
which  they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  Train 
of  Abuses  and  Usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the 
same  Object,  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under 
absolute  Despotism,  it  is  their  Right,  it  is  their  Duty, 
to  throw  off  such  Government,  and  to  provide  new 
Guards  for  their  future  Security.  Such  has  been  the 
patient  sufferance  of  these  Colonies ;  and  such  is  now 
the  Necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their 
former  Systems  of  Government.  The  History  of  the 
present  King  of  Great  Britain  is  a  History  of  repeated 
Injuries  and  Usurpations,  all  having  in  direct  Object 
the  Establishment  of  an  absolute  Tyranny  over  these 
States.  To  prove  this,  let  Facts  be  submitted  to  a 
candid  World. 

He  has  refused  his  Assent  to  Laws,  the  most  whole- 
some and  necessary  for  the  public  Good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  Governors  to  pass  Laws  of 
immediate  and  pressing  Importance,  unless  suspended 
in  their  Operation  till  his  Assent  should  be  obtained ; 
and  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to 
attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  Laws  for  the  Accommo- 
dation of  large  Districts  of  People,  unless  those  Peo- 
ple would  relinquish  the  Right  of  Representation  in  the 

34 


Of  Independence 

Legislature,  a  Right  inestimable  to  them,  and  formida- 
ble to  Tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  Legislative  Bodies  at  Places 
unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  distant  from  the  De- 
pository of  their  public  Records,  for  the  sole  Purpose 
of  fatiguing  them  into  Compliance  with  his  Meas- 
ures. 

He  has  dissolved  Representative  Houses  repeatedly, 
for  opposing  with  manly  Firmness  his  Invasions  on 
the  Rights  of  the  People. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  Time  after,  such  Disso- 
lutions, to  cause  others  to  be  elected;  whereby  the 
Legislative  Powers,  incapable  of  Annihilation,  have 
returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exercise; 
the  State  remaining  in  the  meantime  exposed  to  all 
the  Dangers  of  Invasion  from  without,  and  Convul- 
sions within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of 
these  States;  for  that  Purpose  obstructing  the  Laws 
for  Naturalization  of  Foreigners;  refusing  to  pass 
others  to  encourage  their  Migrations  hither,  and  rais- 
ing the  Conditions  of  new  Appropriations  of  Lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  Administration  of  Justice,  by 
refusing  his  Assent  to  Laws  for  establishing  Judiciary 
Powers. 

He  has  made  Judges  dependent  on  his  Will  alone, 
for  the  Tenure  of  their  Offices,  and  the  Amount  and 
Payment  of  their  Salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  Offices,  and  sent 
hither  Swarms  of  Officers  to  harass  our  People,  and 
eat  out  their  Substance. 

35 


The  Declaration 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  Times  of  Peace,  Standing 
Armies,  without  the  Consent  of  our  Legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  Military  independent 
of  and  superior  to  the  civil  Power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a 
Jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  Constitution,  and  unac- 
knowledged by  our  Laws;  given  his  Assent  to  their 
Acts  of  pretended  Legislation: 

For  quartering  large  Bodies  of  armed  Troops  among 
us: 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  Trial,  from  pun- 
ishment for  any  Murders  which  they  should  commit  on 
the  Inhabitants  of  these  States : 

For  cutting  off  our  Trade  with  all  Parts  of  the 
World : 

For  imposing  Taxes  on   us  without  our  Consent : 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  Benefits  of 
Trial  by  Jury : 

For  transporting  us  beyond  Seas  to  be  tried  for  pre- 
tended Offenses  : 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  Laws 
in  a  neighboring  Province,  establishing  therein  an  ar- 
bitrary Government,  and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so 
as  to  render  it  at  once  an  Example  and  fit  Instrument 
for  introducing  the  same  Absolute  Rule  into  these 
Colonies : 

For  taking  away  our  Charters,  abolishing  our  most 
valuable  Laws,  and  altering  fundamentally  the  forms 
of  our  Governments : 

For  suspending  our  own  Legislatures,  and  declar- 


36 


Of  Independence 

ing  themselves  invested  with  Power  to  legislate  for  us 
in  all  Cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  Government  here,  by  declaring 
us  out  of  his  Protection,  and  waging  War  against 
us. 

He  has  plundered  our  Seas,  ravage*4  our  Coasts, 
burnt  our  Towns,  and  destroyed  the  Lives  of  our 
People. 

He  is  at  this  Time,  transporting  large  Armies  of 
foreign  Mercenaries  to  compleat  the  Works  of  Death, 
Desolation,  and  Tyranny,  already  begun  with  Cir- 
cumstances of  Cruelty  and  Perfidy  scarcely  parallelled 
in  the  most  barbarous  Ages,  and  totally  unworthy 
the  Head  of  a  civilized  Nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow  Citizens  taken  Captive 
on  the  high  Seas  to  bear  Arms  against  their  Country, 
to  become  the  Executioners  of  their  Friends  and 
Brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  Hands. 

He  has  excited  Domestic  Insurrections  amongst  us, 
and  has  endeavored  to  bring  on  the  Inhabitants  of  our 
Frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian  Savages,  whose  known 
Rule  of  Warfare  is  an  undistinguished  Destruction, 
of  all  Ages,  Sexes,  and  Conditions. 

In  every  Stage  of  these  Oppressions  we  have  peti- 
tioned for  Redress,  in  the  most  humble  Terms:  Our 
repeated  Petitions  have  been  answered  only  by  re- 
peated Injury.  A  Prince,  whose  Character  is  thus 
marked  by  every  Act  which  may  define  a  Tyrant,  is 
unfit  to  be  the  Ruler  of  a  free  People. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  Attention  to  our 
British  Brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from  Time 

3Z 


437507 


\ 


The  Declaration 


to  Time  of  Attempts  to  extend  an  unwarrantable 
Jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  reminded  them  of  the 
Circumstances  of  our  Emigration  and  Settlement  here. 
We  have  appealed  to  their  native  Justice  and  Magna- 
nimity, and  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  Ties  of 
our  Common  Kindred  to  disavow  these  Usurpations, 
which  would  inevitably  interrupt  our  Connections  and 
Correspondence.  They  too  have  been  deaf  to  the 
Voice  of  Justice  and  of  Consanguinity.  We  must, 
therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  Necessity  which  denounces 
our  Separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of 
Mankind,  Enemies  in  War;  in  Peace,  Friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  Representatives  of  the  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA,  in  GENERAL  CON- 
GRESS assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge 
of  the  World  for  the  Rectitude  of  our  Intentions,  do 
in  the  Name  and  by  the  Authority  of  the  good  Peo- 
ple of  these  Colonies,  solemnly  Publish  and  Declare, 
That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  Right  ought 
to  be,  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT  STATES  ;  that 
they  are  absolved  from  all  Allegiance  to  the  British 
Crown,  and  that  all  political  connection  between  them 
and  the  State  of  Great  Britain,  is,  and  ought  to  be, 
totally  dissolved ;  and  that  as  FREE  AND  INDE- 
PENDENT STATES,  they  have  full  Power  to  levy 
War,  conclude  Peace,  contract  Alliances,  establish 
Commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  Acts  and  Things  which 
INDEPENDENT  STATES  may  of  Right  do.  And 
for  the  Support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  Re- 
liance on  the  Protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we 


33 


Of  Independence 

mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  Lives,  our  For- 
tunes, and  our  sacred   Honor. 

Signed  by  ORDER  and  on  BEHALF  of    the 
CONGRESS, 

JOHN  HANCOCK,  President. 
Attest, 

CHARLES  THOMPSON,  Secretary. 

The  greater  part  of  the  offenses  laid  at  the  door 
of  George  III.  in  his  dealing  with  his  American  colo- 
nists, now  lie  at  our  doors  in  our  dealing  with  the 
colonists  of  South  Africa.  Nor  need  we  be  surprised 
if  similar  causes  bring  about  similar  results.  Human 
nature  is  the  same  in  South  Africa  as  it  was  in  Bos- 
ton and  Philadelphia.  The  Dutch  are  as  stubborn 
a  breed  as  the  descendants  of  the  men  of  the  May- 
flower. If  the  centrifugal  force  is  certain  to  make 
itself  felt  upon  the  British  Empire,  its  influence  will 
be  earliest  perceptible  upon  those  portions  of  our 
Empire  which  adhere  most  loosely  to  the  parent  body. 
The  disruption  of  the  Empire  or  its  gradual  disin- 
tegration under  the  superior  attraction  of  the  United 
States  will  begin  in  those  territories  where  there  is 
nothing  to  counteract  the  drawing  power  of  gravitation 
in  the  shape  of  national  sentiment  or  patriotic  loyalty. 
In  other  words,  the  United  States  will  have  most  pull 
over  Ireland  and  South  Africa,  for  in  both  of  these 
lands  the  centrifugal  forces  of  domestic  discontent 
will  reinforce  the  centripetal  forces  outside. 

The  majority  of  the  Irish  in  Ireland  have  never  re- 
garded the  British  Empire  with  other  sentiments  than 

39 


V 


Ireland  and  England 


those  of  hostility.  Under  English  rule,  they  have  seen 
their  religion  proscribed,  their  lands  confiscated,  their 
sons  driven  into  exile.  They  have  been  denied  the 
right  to  make  their  own  laws  and  mocked  with  a  gra- 
cious permission  to  fre  in  a  perpetual  minority  in  an 
alien  Parliament.  Again  and  again  they  have  risen  in 
revolt  only  to  learn  on  the  scaffold  and  in  the  felon's 
cell  the  rewards  which  patriotism  has  in  store  for  the 
national  heroes  of  Ireland. 

During  the  last  century  they  have  seen  their  num- 
bers dwindling  in  the  land  of  their  birth,  not  by  the 
thousand,  but  by  the  million.  At  the  same  time  a 
tardy  confession  has  been  wrung  from  the  predominant 
partner  that  for  the  last  fifty  years  Ireland  has  been 
overtaxed  in  comparison  with  England  by  more  than 
two  millions  per  annum.  The  inevitable  result  has 
followed.  The  majority  of  the  Irish  in  Ireland  re- 
gard the  British  Government  not  as  their  friend,  but  as 
the  ally  of  their  worst  enemies,  the  vampire  which 
preys  upon  their  heart's  blood. 

To  the  masses  of  the  South  and  West  of  Ireland,  and 
to  a  large  extent  of  the  North,  the  United  States  is  more 
of  a  fatherland  than  Great  Britain.  They  are  much 
more  interested  in  what  goes  on  in  New  York  than 
in  London,  or  Chicago  than  in  Westminster.  It  is  to 
England  that  their  money  goes  in  rent  and  in  taxes. 
It  is  from  the  United  States  that  their  money  comes  in 
a  Pactolean  flood  of  remittances  through  the  post.  In 
the  United  States  there  were  at  the  census  of  1890 
1,870,000  persons  of  Irish  birth.  Of  those  born  of 
Irish  parents  on  American  soil  who  can  say  how  many 
40 


* 


America  and  Ireland 


there  are  ?  More,  it  is  safe  to  say,  than  are  to  be  found 
in  all  Ireland  to-day. 

If  the  majority  of  the  Irish  race  find  themselves  to- 
day under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  if  the  majority 
of  the  Irish  in  Ireland  build  all  their  hopes  of  success 
upon  the  support  which  they  can  draw  from  their  kin 
beyond  the  sea,  it  is  not  surprising  if  Ireland  should 
afford  a  promising  field  for  the  disintegrating  influence 
of  American  gravitation.  It  was  from  the  Irish  in 
America  that  Mr.  Parnell  drew  the  resources  which 
made  the  Land  League  so  powerful. 

It  is  to  the  Irish  in  America  that  Mr.  Redmond  has 
gone  to  solicit  support  for  the  United  Irish  League.  It 
was  from  the  American  Irish  that  Patrick  Ford  col- 
lected the  fund  for  "Spreading  the  Light."  It  is  in  the 
United  States  that  the  Clan-na-Gael  has  its  headquar- 
ters; and  it  was  from  Chicago  that  the  dynamitards 
set  out  when  they  undertook  their  campaign  of  ter- 
rorism which  landed  most  of  them  in  convict  prisons. 
For  the  revolutionary  party  in  Ireland  America  is 
their  base,  their  banker,  their  recruiting  ground,  and 
their  safe  retreat.  Every  year  Ireland  becomes  more 
and  more  Americanized,  more  and  more  assimilated  to 
the  ideas  of  the  democracy  of  the  West. 

What  America  has  given  to  the  Irish  is  something 
much  more  valuable  than  dollars.  It  is  only  in  the 
cities  of  the  American  Union  that  the  Irish  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  displaying  those  political  gifts,  the 
exercise  of  which  they  were  denied  in  their  own  land. 
It  is  the  fashion  to  sneer  at  the  way  in  which  the  Irish 
rule  New  York,  Chicago,  and  half  the  great  cities  of 

41 


The  Genius  of  Irish  Control 

the  Union.  The  details  of  their  administration  may 
leave  much  to  be  desired,  but  the  extraordinary  fashion 
in  which  they  have  succeeded  in  establishing  their  au- 
thority over  the  richest,  most  energetic,  and  most 
independent  communities  in  the  world,  is  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  miraculous  achievements  in  modern 
politics.  Everywhere  in  a  minority,  they  are  every- 
where in  the  ascendant.  Denied  the  elementary  right 
of  self-government  in  their  own  country  on  the  score 
of  political  incapacity,  they  have  in  the  New  World 
afforded  mankind  one  of  the  most  signal  illustrations 
of  the  art  and  craft  political  that  the  modern  world 
has  ever  seen.  All  that  may  be  said  in  criticism 
of  the  way  in  which  they  gained  or  used  their  power 
only  enhances  the  wonder  of  it. 

Landing  at  Castle  Garden,  penniless,  ignorant,  and 
despised,  they  have  made  themselves  in  less  than  half 
a  century  the  overlords  of  the  greatest  cities  in  the 
New  World.  The  Anglo-Indian,  with  all  the  Empire 
at  his  back,  has  not  a  firmer  grip  upon  the  administra- 
tion of  Calcutta  than  plain  Richard  Croker  has  en- 
joyed for  half  a  lifetime  over  the  commercial  capital 
of  America.  Men  who  have  done  so  much  with  so 
little,  men  who  have  created  satrapies  out  of  nothing 
and  constrained  the  States  that  expelled  the  British  to 
submit  to  their  yoke,  may  be -criminals,  but  they  have 
in  them  the  genius  of  statesmanship. 

This  is  the  more  remarkable  when  we  contrast  it 

with  the  utter  failure  of  the  British  immigrant  to  leave 

any  perceptible  trace  on  the  political  development  of 

the  civic  administration   of  the  United   States.     In 

42 


r 


The  Irish  Vote 


1890  there  were  in  the  United  States  of  Irish  birth 
1,870,000,  but  those  of  British  birth  were  even  more 
numerous.  The  figures  are  as  follows : — 

England 909,092 

Wales 100,079 

Scotland 242,231 

1,251,402 

Canada  and   Newfoundland 980,938 


2,232,340 

From  the  British  Isles,  that  vagina  gentium,  came 
three  million  persons  who  in  1890  were  resident  in  the 
United  States.  Almost  another  million  came  from  the 
British  American  colonies.  Four  million  persons  born 
under  the  Union  Jack  were  in  1890  living  under  the 
Stars  and  Stripes.  What  influence  had  this  enormous 
British  element  upon  the  politics  or  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  one  of  them?  The  only 
perceptible  influence  was  that  of  the  Irish  minority,  and 
that  influence  has  been  from  the  first  and  still  is  stead- 
ily exerted  against  the  Empire  within  whose  frontiers 
they  were  born. 

Every  American  politician  recognizes  the  Irish  vote 
as  a  powerful  factor  in  every  election.  Who  has  ever 
been  heard  to  speak  of  the  English  vote,  the  Welsh 
vote,  the  Scotch  vote?  There  are  no  such  votes.  The 
English,  the  Welsh,  and  the  Scotch  are  completely 
Americanized  and  lost  among  the  mass  of  American 
born.  The  Irish  alone  remain  distinct.  The  one  race 

43 


Ireland  an  American  State 

immune  to  complete  Americanization  is,  nevertheless, 
the  most  potent  enemy  of  Great  Britain.  They  only 
remain  unassimilated  in  order  that  they  may  be  strong 
enough  to  assist  their  brethren  at  home  in  throwing 
off  the  English  yoke... 

At  present  the  prospects  of  the  Irish  cause  are 
brighter  than  they  have  been  since  the  death  of  Mr. 
Parnell.  Mr.  Redmond  has  carried  to  his  fellow- 
countrymen  in  the  United  States  messages  of  high 
hope  of  coming  victory.  We  trust  that  the  Irish  may 
not  experience  once  more  that  disappointment  which 
has  so  often  dogged  their  path.  But  what  has  been 
may  be,  and  the  confidence  excited  by  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  discipline  in  the  Nationalist  ranks,  may 
once  more  be  replaced  by  the  gloom  and  chill  of  de- 
spair. What  then? 

Is  it  entirely  out  of  the  pale  of  possible  politics  that  a 
time  may  come,  if  no  closer  ties  of  a  federal  nature  are 
established  between  the  Empire  and  the  Republic,  when 
Ireland  may  gravitate  from  the  United  Kingdom  to  the 
United  States?  The  only  security  against  the  occur- 
rence of  such  an  event  has  disappeared.  The  United 
States,  aspiring  to  be  one  of  the  first  of  naval  powers, 
has  begun  to  realize  that  it  is  the  sea  which  unites,  the 
land  which  divides. 

It  was  easier  for  the  Oregon  to  steam  round  Cape 
Horn  than  to  pierce  the  narrow  isthmus  which  unites 
the  Americas.  Their  hold  on  the  Philippines  has  fa- 
miliarized the  Americans  with  the  possibility  of 
dominion  over  sea.  Dublin  is  not  half  as  far  from  New 
York  as  Manitoba  is  from  San  Francisco.  The 
44 


A  Precedent  in  the  Antilles 

Americans  no  longer  rigidly  confine  themselves  within 
the  ring  fence  of  the  coast  line  of  the  oceans.  They 
are  spreading  themselves  abroad.  Expansion  is  in 
the  air. 

Several  times  in  the  last  half  century  relations  be- 
tween the  Empire  and  the  Republic  have  been  some- 
what painfully  strained.  Now  that  the  United  States 
is  conscious  of  its  superior  strength  and  is  venturing 
more  to  move  out  into  the  open,  occasions  for  friction 
are  certain  to  be  more  numerous.  If  ever — which 
heaven  forbid — these  points  of  friction  should  develop 
actual  collision  between  the  two  nations,  Ireland  would 
at  once  become  an  object  of  supreme  interest  to  the 
Americans,  as  formerly  it  was  to  the  French. 

As  for  the  Irish,  their  maxim,  "England's  extremity 
is  Ireland's  opportunity,"  has  been  too  well  engraved 
into  their  consciousness  for  them  not  to  realize  the  im- 
portance of  utilizing  such  an  occasion  to  the  uttermost. 
Quite  apart  from  all  other  possibilities,  the  never-to-be- 
overlooked  chance  that  some  day  Britain  may  be  at 
war,  makes  it  the  imperative  duty  of  every  American 
statesman  not  to  let  slip  any  opportunity  that  might 
render  more  certain  and  more  valuable  the  support  of 
Ireland  in  such  a  quarrel. 

This  is  assuming  that  the  cause  of  dispute  may  be 
one  altogether  extraneous  to  Ireland.  But  we  cannot 
overlook  the  possibility  that  Ireland  itself  might  form 
the  casus  belli. 

The  only  foreign  war  which  Americans  of  this  gen- 
eration have  waged  was  fought  for  the  liberation  of 
Cuba,  Cuba  was  the  Spaniard's  Ireland.  The  Pearl 
of  the  Antilles,  like  the  Emerald  Isle,  had  suffered  for 

45 


A  Cry  from  Erin 

centuries  from  the  unsympathetic  rule  of  alien  con- 
querors. The  Cubans,  like  the  Irish,  were  savagely 
discontented. 

Like  the  Irish,  although  not  nearly  to  the  same  ex- 
tent, they  had  friends 'and  sympathizers  in  all  the  great 
American  cities.  Cuba,  like  Ireland,  was  bled  to  death 
by  the  rapacity  of  the  foreigner.  At  last,  after  long 
hesitation,  the  full  cup  of  Spain's  iniquities  overflowed, 
the  Americans  rose  and  smote  down  with  one  smash- 
ing blow  the  rule  of  the  Dons  in  the  West  Indies.  The 
war  was  brief,  brilliant,  and  decisive  As  the  result  the 
islands  which  Weyler  had  wasted  with  sword  and  flame 
are  enjoying  a  prosperity  before  unheard  of.  And  the 
American  people  as  a  whole  are  exceedingly  well 
pleased  at  the  result  of  their  first  essay  as  a  liberating 
Power. 

All  these  things  render  it  by  no  means  improbable 
that  a  piteous  appeal  from  the  Irish  after  the  next 
famine,  or,  more  likely  still,  after  the  next  abortive 
insurrection,  will  find  the  American  ear  quick  to  hear 
the  cry  from  weeping  Erin,  "Come  over  and  help  us." 
Probably  most  of  my  readers  will  shrug  their  shoul- 
ders at  this  speculation,  and  dismiss  it  as  fantastic 
nonsense. 

To  all  such  I  will  put  but  one  question.  Do  they 
imagine  for  one  moment  that  if  British  generals  were 
to  put  in  force  against  Irish  insurgents  of  the  Twentieth 
Century  all  the  pitch  cap  devilries  of  1798,  any  power 
on  earth  would  be  able  to  keep  the  American  people 
from  interposing  between  our  soldiery  and  their  vic- 
tims? There  is  not  an  American  city  which  has  not 
46 


What  Ireland  Might  Do 

among  its  most  influential  men  some  one  who  was 
born  in  the  country  which  was  desolated  by  our 
dragoons. 

The  cry  of  anguish  that  would  rise  from  the  fire- 
blasted  country,  in  Connaught  and  in  Munster,  would 
reverberate  through  every  American  city.  The  mem- 
ories of  the  old  blood  feud  would  revive.  The 
shade  of  Washington  would  be  invoked  against  the 
descendants  of  the  men  whom  he  drove  from  the 
United  States,  and  the  sword  of  Columbia  would  not 
be  returned  to  its  scabbard  before  Ireland  had  been 
placed  beside  Cuba  among  the  proud  trophies  of  the 
humanitarian  and  liberating  zeal  of  the  American 
people. 

If  this  is  the  outlook  in  Ireland,  what  can  we  say 
about  that  other  Ireland  which  our  rulers  are,  with  in- 
credible fatality,  wasting  our  substance  in  manufac- 
turing in  South  Africa?  It  is  probable  that  the  dis- 
integrating influence  of  the  United  States  will  be  felt 
more  speedily  in  Cape  Town,  in  Kimberley,  and  in 
Johannesburg,  than  in  Dublin,  Cork,  and  Belfast. 

This  speculation  may  seem  fantastic  to  those  who 
have  never  reflected  upon  the  extraordinary  rapidity 
with  which  nations  discover  that  they  have  a  provi- 
dential mission  to  assist  the  oppressed  when  their  in- 
terests or  their  passions  lead  them  to  desire  a  pretext 
for  interference.  But  it  is  as  well  to  remember  that, 
as  far  back  as  1896,  Mr.  William  O'Brien  declared  in 
the  pages  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  the  possibility  of 
American  intervention  on  behalf  of  Ireland.  He  even 
suggested  that  after  the  next  general  election  all  the 

47 


Irish- American  Sympathy 

Nationalist  members  returned  for  Irish  constituencies 
should  refuse  to  come  to  Westminster,  but  should  pro- 
ceed to  Washington  to  formally  lay  their  appeal  before 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

The  article  was  entitled,  "If  Ireland  sent  her  M.P.'s 
to  Washington."  It  opened  with  the  suggestion  that 
the  first  business  that  an  Anglo-American  Court  of 
Arbitration  would  have  to  deal  with  would  be  the  rela- 
tions between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  most 
notable  passage  in  the  article  runs  as  follows :  "Sup- 
posing that  the  Irish  electors  should  say,  'Enough  of 
idle  babble  in  the  English  Parliament.  We  will  elect 
representatives  pledged  not  to  go  to  Westminster,  but 
to  Washington  to  lay  the  case  of  Ireland  before  the 
President  and  Congress  of  the  United  States  with  all 
the  solemnity  of  a  nation's  appeal,  and  to  invoke  the 
intervention  which  was  so  successful  in  the  case  of 
Venezuela.'  Eighty-two  Irish  members,  five-sixths  of 
the  Irish  representation,  transferred  from  the  Parlia- 
ment of  England  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
by  deliberate  national  decree,  would  represent  an  in- 
ternational event  of  whose  importance  the  most  su- 
percilious jingo  would  not  affect  to  make  light." 

Mr.  O'Brien  thought  that  if  such  a  pilgrimage  took 
place,  the  Irish  representatives  would  be  received  with 
open  arms.  He  said  "the  public  opinion  of  the  United 
States  could  not  resist  such  an  appeal  from  Ireland.  I 
think  few  will  doubt  it  who  know  the  depth  of  Ameri- 
can sympathy  with  Ireland,  and  the  interest  that  all 
Americans,  and  not  the  least,  Irish  Americans,  have 
in  eliminating  the  Irish  question  from  their  own  in- 
48 


Stars  and  Stripes  over  Ireland 


ternal  politics.  Enlightened  Englishmen  who  desire 
at  one  and  the  same  time  to  conciliate  Ireland,  and  to 
deliver  the  United  States  and  England  from  periodical 
fits  of  war  fever,  ought  to  be  the  first  to  welcome  the 
intervention  of  the  new  Court  of  Arbitration  in  Irish 
affairs.  It  would  turn  a  controversy  which  may  easily 
enough  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  implacable 
quarrel  between  the  two  great  English-speaking  Pow- 
ers into  a  pledge  of  genuine  amity  between  them.  What 
seems  to  me  reasonably  certain,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien  five 
years  ago,  "is  that  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  Irish 
difficulty  some  time  to  come  is  about  to  shift  from 
Westminster  to  Washington." 

Mr.  McHugh,  who,  fresh  from  a  British  dungeon, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Redmond  in  1901,  in  his  pilgrim- 
age to  the  United  States,  boldly  proclaimed  his  belief 
that  Ireland  would  soon  take  a  greater  step  forward 
and  would  demand  admittance  into  the  Union  as  one 
of  the  United  States.  Too  much  importance  need  not 
be  attached  to  such  suggestions,  which  are  often  thrown 
out  like  sparks  to  dazzle  and  to  expire.  But  in  view  of 
the  widespread  recognition  on  the  part  of  many  Eng- 
lish-speaking men  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  of 
the  imminent  desirability,  not  to  say  necessity,  of 
creating  a  great  English-speaking  political  interna- 
tional trust,  these  suggestions  are  not  without  their 
significance. 

Certain  persons,  who  form  their  estimate  of  Ameri- 
can public  opinion  solely  from  the  utterances  of  the 
wealthy  classes  in  New  York,  may  scout  the  idea  that 
any  sane  or  statesmanlike  American  would  ever  enter- 
tain the  suggestion  put  forward  by  Mr.  William 

49 


Stars  and  Stripes  over  Ireland 

O'Brien.  If  they  look  a  little  below  the  surface,  or  if 
they  extend  their  investigations  into  American  public 
opinion  a  little  further  they  would  modify  their  con- 
clusion. 

Nine  years  ago  this  very  subject  was  discussed  by 
one  of  the  sanest  and  most  sagacious  of  American 
writers  in  an  article  published  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  of  September,  1892.  In  this  paper  Dr.  Shaw, 
who  had  been  asked  by  the  editor  to  set  forth  in  plain 
terms  what  was  the  American  view  of  Home  Rule  and 
Federation,  referred  to  the  possible  consequences  that' 
might  result  from  the  refusal  of  the  predominant  part- 
ner to  concede  Home  Rule  to  Ireland. 

"If  England  persisted  in  this  course,"  said  Dr.  Shaw, 
"Ireland  itself  might  falter  in  its  loyalty  at  some  time 
of  crisis.  We  do  not  want  Ireland,  yet  obviously  we 
could  make  her  very  comfortable  and  happy  as  a  State 
in  our  Union.  And  in  the  nature  of  things  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  why  the  American  flag  might  not  float  over 
the  Emerald  Isle  with  as  much  propriety  as  the  British 
flag  in  territories  contiguous  to  our  border.  More- 
over, there  might  be  much  moral  justification  for  our 
reception  of  Ireland  in  the  fact  that  we  should  at  once 
give  that  community  a  place  in  a  rational  system  of 
political  organization,  and  promote  its  general  welfare 
and  progress,  whereas  without  Home  Rule  it  must  re- 
main in  a  distraught  condition.  Our  mission  in  Ireland 
would  be  the  same  as  England  professes  in  Egypt — to 
pacify,  restore,  and  bless.  But  we  could  have  no  object 
in  undertaking  this  expensive  annexation  of  Ireland 
except  the  welfare  of  humanity  and  the  progress  of  the 
English-speaking  communities  of  the  world." 

50 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fourth 

Of  South  Africa 

No  phrase  has  been  more  frequently  used  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  South  African  question  than  that  the 
policy  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  is  creating  for  us  "another 
Ireland  in  South  Africa."  Without  striking  into  the 
forbidden  path  of  political  controversy  it  suffices  to 
point  out  that  Mr.  Chamberlain  himself  has  warned  us 
that  when  his  war  has  been  brought  to  a  close  we  shall 
require  to  maintain  for  an  indefinite  time  a  standing 
army  of  50,000  men  in  South  Africa  in  order  to  enforce 
the  obedience  of  the  300,000  unwilling  subjects  whom 
we  have  determined  to  compel  to  remain  within  the 
borders  of  the  Empire. 

Since  that  calculation  has  been  made  the  British 
garrison  in  South  Africa  has  been  steadily  maintained 
at  a  figure  considerably  above  200,000.  Even  now  the 
military  expert  of  The  Times  calculates  that  in  the  first 
six  months  after  all  fighting  has  ceased  it  will  be  only 
possible  to  recall  30,000  men,  and  that  we  must  con- 
template the  necessity  of  maintaining  for  a  time,  to 

5* 


The  Future  of  South  Africa 

which  no  limit  can  be  placed,  an  armed  force  of  170,000 
men.  But  the  number  of  bayonets  upon  which  we  shall 
find  it  necessary  to  sit  in  our  South  African  dominions 
is  a  detail. 

Whether  they  are'  50,000  or  170,000  or  200,000, 
the  seat  will  be  equally  uncomfortable,  the  only 
difference  being  one  of  expenditure.  The  funda- 
mental point  to  be  kept  in  view  is  that  in  South  Africa 
it  may  be  for  years  or  it  may  be  for  generations,  we 
have  deliberately  elected  to  establish  our  dominion  by 
reliance  upon  military  force.  Before  the  war  our  Em- 
pire in  South  Africa  was  one  of  consent.  After  the 
war  it  will  be  one  of  conquest  maintained  by  an  armed 
garrison. 

The  Dutch  of  Cape  Colony,  who  were  so  loyal  im- 
mediately before  the  war  as  to  take  the  lead  of  every 
Colony  in  the  Empire  in  voting  an  annual  subsidy  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  British  fleet,  are  being  con- 
verted into  implacable  enemies  of  our  rule.  But  it  is 
probable  that  the  force  which  will  dislodge  the  Afri- 
kander Commonwealth  from  the  position  to  which  we 
have  destined  it  in  the  orbit  of  the  British  Empire,  and 
which  will  convert  it  into  one  of  the  stars  in  the  con- 
stellation of  the  United  States  of  America,  will  not  in 
the  first  instance  at  least  be  Dutch.  We  shall  lose 
South  Africa,  not  by  the  armed  revolt  of  our  alien- 
ated subjects,  but  because  we  can  no  longer  depend 
upon  the  support  and  co-operation  in  maintaining  our 
authority  over  the  much  more  immediately  dangerous 
and  uncontrollable  element  which  we  are  doing  our 
best  to  bring  into  existence  in  Johannesburg. 
52 


The  Jameson  Conspiracy 

In  order  to  understand  the  true  inwardness  of  this 
observation  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  fatal  mo- 
ment in  South  African  history  when  Mr.  Rhodes  de- 
cided to  enter  upon  that  which  is  known  in  history  as 
the  Jameson  Conspiracy. 

So  little  is  known  of  the  inner  springs  of  political 
action,  that  it  is  possible  most  of  my  American  readers 
will  hear  for  the  first  time  in  these  pages  that  the  pres- 
ent disastrous  war  in  South  Africa  is  the  direct  result 
of  a  jealousy  of  American  influence.  It  is  common 
ground  that  this  war  dates  from  the  Jameson  Raid. 
The  raid  begat  the  armaments,  the  armaments  begat 
Lord  Milner's  intervention,  and  that  intervention 
brought  on  the  war.  But  what  begat  the  raid  ?  Upon 
this  point  I  can  speak  with  authority,  as  I  have  fre- 
quently heard  the  whole  story  of  that  most  disastrous 
blunder  from  the  lips  of  the  man  who  conceived  the 
conspiracy,  and  risked  everything  in  order  to  carry 
it  out. 

No  mistake  can  be  greater  than  the  vulgar  error  of 
imagining  that  Mr.  Rhodes  hatched  the  Jameson  con- 
spiracy out  of  any  animosity  or  fear  of  the  Boers. 
Mr.  Rhodes  has  always  been  very  partial  to  the  Dutch. 
Man  for  man,  he  knows  that  the  Boer  is  a-better  phys- 
ical, virile  creature  than  the  city-bred  people  of  Great 
Britain.  Politically,  he  had  always  worked  with  them. 
He  never  would  have  been  Premier  except  by  their 
aid,  and  no  man  ever  formulated  more  emphatically  the 
axiom  that  without  the  support  of  the  Dutch  you  can- 
not govern  South  Africa. 

Why,  then,  did  he  enter  into  a  conspiracy  to  over- 

53 


Cecil  Rhodes'  Mistake 

throw  President  Kruger?  Mr.  Rhodes'  own  answer  to 
this,  which  I  have  heard  many  times  from  his  own 
lips,  is  that  his  object  was  not  primarily  but  only 
incidentally  to  overthrow  Kruger.  His  one  supreme 
aim  was  to  capture*  the  Outlanders,  to  secure  their 
allegiance  to  the  British  Empire,  and  to  avert  the  one 
thing  he  dreaded  most  of  all,  the  establishment  of  what 
he  called  an  American  Republic  in  the  Transvaal, 
which,  in  his  own  vigorous  phrase,  would  have  been 
ten  times  more  a  child  of  the  devil  for  us  to  deal 
with  than  Paul  Kruger  had  ever  been. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  a  little  too  previous  in  his  calcula- 
tions— a  fault  on  virtue's  side,  especially  in  these  days, 
when  our  Ministers  seem  congenitally  incapable  of  an 
intelligent  anticipation  of  events  to  come.  But  to  un- 
derstand a  miscalculation  after  the  event  is  easy.  It  is 
more  difficult  to  foresee.  What  Mr.  Rhodes  thought 
he  saw  was  the  Rand  filling  up  with  a  heterogeneous 
conglomerate  of  adventurous,  unscrupulous,  unat- 
tached mortals,  all  intent  primarily  upon  making  their 
fortune.  These  men  outnumbered  the  adult  burghers 
of  the  Transvaal  by  four  to  one.  The  Boers  were  prac- 
tically unarmed,  without  even  adequate  supply  of  cart- 
ridges for  their  rifles,  except  for  protection  against  the 
natives.  Their  artillery  was  worthless. 

Although  some  attempt  had  been  made  to  construct 
a  fort  to  overawe  Johannesburg,  they  were  utterly 
unprepared  for  a  coup  de  main.  The  previous  elec- 
tion for  President  had  shown  the  existence  of  a  very 
strong  minority  hostile  to  Paul  Kruger.  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  led  to  believe  by  his  confidential  informants  that 
54 


Cecil  Rhodes'  Mistake 

the  Outlanders  were  not  m  the  mood  to  tolerate  any 
longer  the  authority  of  the  Boers.  Their  leaders  were 
represented  as  being  only  one  degree  less  hostile  to 
the  British  Government  than  they  were  to  President 
Kruger,  the  cause  of  their  complaint  being  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Rhodes  and  the  High  Commissioner  had 
never  given  them  any  effective  assistance  in  their  cam- 
paign against  Krugerism. 

The  Outlanders  were  men  who  had  at  their  disposi- 
tion the  enormous  wealth  of  the  Rand,  that  treasure  of 
the  Nibelungs  which  has  drenched  the  veldt  with  hu- 
man blood — they  were  men  of  all  nationalities  and  of 
none — and  even  those  who  came  from  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonies  held  very  loosely  to  the  Empire. 
Conspicuous  among  those  were  the  Irish  and  the 
miners,  whom  Mr.  Rhodes  described  as  the  "Sydney 
Bulletin  Australians." 

The  Sydney  Bulletin,  it  may  here  be  explained,  is 
an  extremely  able  weekly  illustrated  paper,  published 
in  Sydney,  which  neither  fears  God  nor  reverences 
the  King,  and  which  makes  British  Imperialism  the  fa- 
vorite butt  of  its  attacks.  German  Jews,  Frenchmen, 
Russians,  Poles,  Hollanders,  and  Americans — it  was 
a  motley  crowd  that  the  great  golden  magnet  had  at- 
tracted to  Johannesburg — of  which  one  thing  at  least 
could  be  stated  without  hesitation,  viz.,  that  it  had  as 
little  enthusiasm  for  the  Union  Jack  or  for  anything 
more  ideal  than  dollars  and  cents  as  any  assemblage  of 
human  beings  that  could  be  collected  on  the  pianet. 
It  was  a  godless  crew,  of  whom  one  shrewd  observer 
remarked,  that  it  was  too  much  addicted  to  gambling, 

55 


The  Fatal  Blunder 

women,  and  whisky  to  have  the  proper  revolutionary 
fibre. 

But  gross  mammon-worshipper  though  it  might  be, 
Mr.  Rhodes  believed  it  was  the  brain  as  well  as  the 
pocket  of  Africa.  .He  knew  it  was  fretfully  impatient 
of  the  irksome  restrictions  enforced  by  President 
Kruger.  He  underestimated  the  resisting  force  of  the 
Boers,  and  believed  that  at  any  moment  the  news 
might  come  that  a  bloodless  revolution  had  taken 
place  in  the  Transvaal,  that  Paul  Kruger  had  disap- 
peared, and  that  in  his  place  he  would  have  to  deal 
with  a  President  of  a  new  Republic  flushed  with  vic- 
tory, angry  at  being  refused  all  help,  and  very  much 
inclined  to  pay  off  old  scores  by  being  much  more  anti- 
British  than  the  Boers  had  been. 

"In  fact,"  said  Mr.  Rhodes  to  me  when  he  was  ex- 
plaining how  it  was  he  came  to  make  the  one  fatal 
blunder  of  his  career, — "it  seemed  to  me  quite  certain 
that  if  I  did  not  take  a  hand  in  the  game  the  forces  on 
the  spot  would  soon  make  short  work  of  President 
Kruger.  Then  I  should  be  face  to  face  with  an  Amer- 
ican Republic — American  in  the  sense  of  being  intense- 
ly hostile  to  and  jealous  of  Britain — an  American  Re- 
public largely  manned  by  Americans  and  Sydney  Bul- 
letin Australians  who  cared  nothing  for  the  old  flag. 
They  would  have  all  the  wealth  of  the  Rand  at  their 
disposal.  The  drawing  power  of  the  Outlander  Re- 
public would  have  collected  round  it  all  the  other 
Colonies.  They  would  have  federated  with  it  as  a 
centre,  and  we  should  have  lost  South  Africa.  To 


56 


The  South  African  Republic 

avert  this  catastrophe,  to  rope  in  the  Outlanders  be- 
fore it  was  too  late,  I  did  what  I  did." 

Repeated  conversations  with  Mr.  Rhodes,  even  so 
recently  as  last  autumn,  found  him  unchanged  in  the 
conviction  that  the  danger  of  that  American  Republic 
in  the  heart  of  South  Africa  justified  his  conspiracy. 
Kruger  was  doomed  anyhow.  It  was  for  England  to 
stand  in  with  the  Rising  Sun. 

Not  only  will  Americans  be  interested  in  knowing  the 
true  story  of  the  genesis  of  the  Jameson  conspiracy, 
they  will  be  not  less  surprised  to  know  that  its  failure 
was  largely  due  to  President  Cleveland's  message  on 
the  Venezuelan  Question.  The  Jameson  Conspiracy, 
as  originally  planned,  based  its  hope  of  success  upon 
a  revolutionary  movement  in  Johannesburg,  in  which 
all  nationalities  were  to  take  part.  Conspicuous  among 
the  conspirators  were  the  Americans,  John  Hays  Ham- 
mond and  Captain  Mein,  and  round  them  were  several 
other  Americans  whose  sympathies  were  enlisted  by 
the  idea  that  they  were  in  some  way  emulating  the 
exploits  of  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution  in  overthrow- 
ing a  new  George  III.  in  the  person  of  President 
.Kruger. 

When  Mr.  Chamberlain  made  it  the  condition  of  his 
connivance  in  the  conspiracy  that  Dr.  Jameson  should 
go  in  under  the  British  flag,  and  that  the  next  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Transvaal  should  be  appointed  by  the 
Colonial  Office,  he  hamstrung  the  one  chance  of  suc- 
cess which  the  conspiracy  had  possessed.  His  con- 
dition about  the  flag  was  suppressed  for  a  while,  but 
the  news  leaked  out  just  about  the  time  when  the  anti- 

57 


The  Conspiracy  that  Failed 

British  sentiment  among  Americans  everywhere  was 
excited  to  fever  heat  by  President  Cleveland's  message 
about  Venezuela.  The  immediate  result  was  that  the 
American  members  of  the  Johannesburg  Conspiracy 
flatly  refused  to  gfo  on  with  the  revolution.  They 
said  they  were  willing  to  stake  their  lives  for  a  bona 
fide  revolution,  to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  Kruger- 
ites  and  put  up  a  better  government  in  its  stead,  but 
they  point  blank  and  in  set  terms  refused  to  go  another 
step  in  what  they  described  as  a  job  to  "gobble  up" 
the  Transvaal  for  England. 

Explanations  and  disclosures  were  forthcoming,  but 
the  mischief  was  done.  The  whole  revolutionary 
movement  had  received  its  death  blow  when  the  Amer- 
icans discovered  Mr.  Chamberlain's  design.  The  sub- 
sequent effort  of  Dr.  Jameson  to  galvanize  the  revolu- 
tion into  life  need  not  be  referred  to  here,  excepting  to 
say  that  the  responsibility  for  this  fiasco  lies  primarily 
at  the  door  of  the  Colonial  Minister,  whose  "Hurry 
up"  messages  were  admittedly  inspired  by  a  desire  to 
get  the  revolutoin  over  before  the  Venezuelan-Amer- 
ican trouble  became  acute. 

The  story  how  that  conspiracy  miscarried  is  ancient 
history.  Dr.  Jameson  and  his  men,  Mr.  Rhodes  and 
all  their  backers,  fared  as  men  usually  do  who  sell  the 
lion's  skin  before  the  lion  is  dead.  But  the  impor- 
tant point  is  that  standpoint  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  and  the 
fact  that  in  his  opinion  the  danger  point  to  the  Empire 
in  South  Africa  five  years  ago  was  not  to  be  sought 
among  the  Dutch  but  among  the  Outlanders,  and 
what  Mr.  Rhodes  saw  then  is  doubly  true  to-day.  The 
58 


Reconstruction 

real  danger  that  threatens  the  Empire  in  South  Africa 
is  not  to  be  found  so  much  in  the  sleepless  hostility 
of  the  Dutch,  whose  homes  have  been  burned  and 
whose  children  have  been  done  to  death,  as  one  of  the 
humane  corollaries  of  the  policy  of  devastation  and 
farm  burning.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  cosmopolitan 
population  whom  we  are  summoning  back  to  the  Rand. 

It  is  a  common  error  to  maintain  that  the  Outlanders 
love  us,  and  that  even  if  they  did  not  love  us  before 
the  war  we  have  purchased  their  affection,  admiration, 
and  loyalty  by  the  immensity  of  the  sacrifice  in  the  last 
two  years.  That,  however,  is  not  the  way  in  which  the 
Outlander  looks  at  it  at  all.  He  considers  that  British 
incompetence,  British  shortsightedness,  and  the  insuf- 
ferable arrogance  and  ignorance  of  our  military 
officers,  have  subjected  him  for  two  years  to  privations 
which  he  would  never  have  suffered  if  we  had  shown 
ordinary  capacity  in  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Between 
the  mining  community  and  the  military  satraps  who 
act  upon  their  own  prejudice  and  caprice,  and  are 
responsible  for  martial  law  throughout  the  whole  of 
South  Africa,  there  is  a  bitter  feud.  No  Dutchman 
speaks  with  such  contempt  of  the  British  military 
authorities  as  do  the  men  on  whose  behalf  the  whole  o£ 
our  sacrifices  have  been  incurred. 

Two  years'  experience  in  refugee  camps  in  Cape 
Town  and  Natal  have  not  sweetened  the  temper  of 
these  quondam  political  helots  who  aroused  the  gush- 
ing sympathy  of  Lord  Milner.  They  will  return,  and 
with  them  will  return  a  horde  of  political  adventurers 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  In  the  next  twenty 

59 


Difficult  Element 

years  £300,000,000  sterling  will  be  extracted  from  the 
mines  of  the  Rand,  and  where  the  carcase  is  there 
will  the  vultures  be  gathered  together.  It  is  confi- 
dently calculated  that  the  white  mining  population  that 
will  throng  to  the.  Rand  will  number  a  minimum  of 
a  quarter  of  a  million,  and  possibly  there  may  be  as 
many  as  350,000.  The  population  will  be  preponder- 
antly male,  but  it  will  not  be  anything  like  preponder- 
antly British.  There  will  be  any  number  of  Ameri- 
cans, the  Sydney  Bulletin  Australians  will  come  once 
more  to  the  front,  there  will  be  swarms  of  Polish  Jews, 
and  any  number  of  adventurous  Frenchmen,  Germans. 
Russians,  and  Dutch. 

These  men  will  go  there  with  one  object,  and  that 
is  to  enrich  themselves  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  no 
community  in  the  world  will  be  more  impatient  of 
any  restriction  upon  their  liberty  or  of  the  imposition 
of  any  burdens  which  in  their  opinions  ought  not  to 
be  imposed  upon  them  without  their  consent.  Im- 
agine this  cosmopolitan  community  of  gold-seekers 
compelled  to  submit  to  the  arbitrary  restrictions  of 
military  rule,  taxed  without  their  consent,  and  saddled 
with  a  large  share  of  what  they  regard  as  the  alto- 
gether unnecessary  expenditure  which  was  caused  by 
the  blundering  incompetence  of  the  British  Government 
and  British  military  authorities.  It  is  not  pretended 
that  for  years  to  come  there  will  be  anything  in  the 
shape  of  free  Parliamentary  government  established 
in  any  part  of  South  Africa.  On  the  contrary,  we  are 
told  every  day  that  it  may  be  years  or  it  may  be  genera- 
tions before  the  rule  of  the  sword  is  replaced. 
60 


An  Opinion  of  Chamberlain 

We  are  further  told  by  those  excellent  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  under  whose  benediction  the  war  has 
been  waged,  that  as  the  result  of  our  sacrifices  Down- 
ing Street  is  going  to  settle  the  native  question  in 
South  Africa  upon  the  principles  of  Exeter  Hall. 
What  will  be  the  result  ?  Two  years  will  not  pass  be- 
fore we  have  Johannesburg  in  a  seething  mass  of  dis- 
content, a  charged  mine  to  which  a  match  may  at 
any  moment  be  accidentally  applied.  You  only  need 
to  move  among  the  leading  members  of  the  mining 
community  either  in  London  or  in  Africa  to  under- 
stand what  the  future  has  in  store  for  us.  "How  long 
do  you  Outlanders" — I  asked  an  eminent  reformer 
who  had  done  time  in  jail  for  his  share  in  the  Jame- 
son conspiracy — "how  long  do  you  think  you  can 
tolerate  Crown  Colony  government  in  Johannesburg?" 
— "Some  people,"  he  said,  "say  eighteen  months.  So 
far  as  my  people  are  concerned,  I  should  think  that 
about  two  days  is  as  much  as  they  could  stand." 

From  him,  as  from  another  still  more  eminent 
authority,  I  heard  the  bitterest  complaints  concerning 
the  ignorance  and  arrogance  of  the  Colonial  Secretary. 
"President  Kruger  at  his  worst,"  said  one  whose  stake 
in  the  Rand  is  second  to  none — "President  Kruger  at 
his  worst  was  an  angel  of  light  compared  with  Mr. 
Chamberlain.  The  man  is  as  pig-headed  as  he  is 
ignorant,  and  as  unapproachable  as  the  Mikado  in  old 
times.  Does  he  think  that  we  are  Hottentots,  that 
we  can  be  governed  in  this  fashion?  We  are  not 
Hottentots,  and  that  he  will  soon  find  out."  Evidence 
multiplies  on  every  hand  to  show  that  when  the  mines 


New  Conditions 

get  to  work  again,  the  Outlanders  will  sigh  for  the 
fleshpots  of  Egypt  in  the  old  days  of  Paul  Kruger. 
I  have  already  referred  to  the  native  question  as  that 
in  which  the  interests  of  the  mine  owner  and  the 
philanthropic  interests  of  the  British  public  are  likely 
to  come  into  sharp  collision. 

There  are  many  other  questions.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  question  of  federation.  It  is  always  said 
that  we  are  going  to  create  a  new  federated  Empire 
in  South  Africa.  "If  you  want  federation,"  said  one 
of  the  rich  men  of  the  Rand  to  me  quite  recently,  "you 
had  better  federate  before  we  get  back.  You  cer- 
tainly will  never  federate  after  we  once  have  felt  our 
strength.  Why  should  we  federate?  What  does  fed- 
eration mean  to  us?  It  means  first  and  foremost  that 
you  intend  to  tie  round  our  neck  as  a  millstone  the 
railway  debt  of  Natal  and  Cape  Colony.  It  means 
that  you  are  going  to  saddle  us  with  a  responsibility 
for  paying  interest  on  i 45, 000,000  invested  in  railways 
which  would  never  earn  more  than  i  per  cent,  if  it 
were  not  for  us.  What  have  we  to  do  with  the  Cape 
lines?  Delagoa  Bay  is  our  port.  Leave  us  to  our- 
selves and  we  shall  double  the  line  to  Delagoa  Bay, 
and  that  will  supply  all  that  we  want  much  more 
cheaply  and  rapidly  than  we  could  bring  anything  from 
Durban  or  the  Cape." 

If  any  one  wants  to  understand  exactly  the  rela- 
tion that  will  exist  between  the  returned  Outlanders 
when  the  lines  get  into  operation  again  and  the  mili- 
tary authorities  who  must  of  necessity  for  a  long 
time  be  charged  with  the  control  of  the  country,  he 
62 


Crown  Colony 

can  see  it  as  in  a  magic  mirror  if  he  will  take  the 
trouble  to  recall  the  relations  which  existed  between 
Colonel  Kekewich  and  Mr.  Rhodes  during  the  siege 
of  Kimberley.  The  soldier  despises  the  mine-owner, 
and  the  latter  repays  his  contempt  with  interest.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  war  has  created  a  genuine  feeling 
of  respect  between  the  fighting  Colonist  and  the  fight- 
ing Boer. 

Upon  that  basis  of  mutual  respect  mutual  co-opera- 
tion could  very  rapidly  be  arranged  if  once  a  question 
arose  in  which  they  had  a  common  enemy.  That  com- 
mon enemy  will  not  be  far  to  seek.  In  any  collision 
that  may  arise  between  Downing  Street  and  Johan- 
nesburg, Downing  Street  will  be  helpless,  because 
Johannesburg  can  always  striks  up  a  fighting  alliance 
with  the  Dutch,  whereas  Downing  Street  can  never 
rely  upon  Dutch  support,  at  least  during  the  lifetime 
of  this  generation. 

What  seems  probable,  therefore,  is  that  if  the  war 
should  ever  come  to  an  end,  and  a  cosmopolitan  popu- 
lation of  gold  diggers  should  place  250,000  men  on  the 
Rand,  the  community  will  insist  upon  governing  itself 
in  its  own  way.  They  will  form  precisely  that  "Ameri- 
can Republic,"  although  probably  not  under  the  name 
of  a  republic,  which  Mr.  Rhodes  saw  afar  off  and 
endeavored  to  avert.  Any  attempt  on  our  part  to 
compel  them  to  pay  taxes  to  which  they  have  not 
consented  would  be  followed  by  an  African  imita- 
tion of  the  Tea  Party  in  Boston  harbor.  And  any 
attempt  to  punish  such  defiance  of  our  authority  would 


A  New  Republic 

immediately  precipitate  an  alliance  with  the  Afrikan- 
ders which  would  leave  us  powerless,  no  matter  how 
strong  our  garrison,  and  so  the  British  Empire  will 
perish  in  South  Africa,  smitten  down  by  the  very 
Outlanders  on  whose  behalf  we  are  supposed  to  have 
waged  this  war. 

This  speculation  may  seem  to  many  far-fetched, 
but  the  premises  upon  which  the  calculations  are  based 
are  indisputable.  We  are  going  to  try  the  experi- 
ment of  governing  an  adventurous  community,  accus- 
tomed to  liberty,  by  what — however  disguised — is  in 
reality  a  military  despotism.  We  intend  to  impose 
taxes  upon  this  community  without  their  consent ; 
we  are  pledged  to  secure  rights  and  privileges  for 
the  natives,  any  attempt  to  fulfil  which  would  afford 
a  common  platform  for  Boer  and  Outlander.  These 
are  the  difficulties  which  Mr.  Rhodes  foresaw  in  1895. 
but  at  that  time  England  at  the  worst  could  always 
rely  upon  the  support  of  the  Dutch  in  South  Africa 
in  maintaining  her  authority. 

There  was  no  danger  of  a  revolt  on  the  Rand 
against  the  paramountcy  of  Britain  when  all  the 
farmers  in  South  Africa  could  be  relied  upon  to  sup- 
port the  Empire  against  the  Rand.  But  to-day  we 
have  destroyed  the  only  force  upon  which  we  could 
rely  in  South  Africa,  and  we  shall  be  reduced  to  the 
humiliating  alternative  of  allowing  Johannesburg  to 
govern  South  Africa  according  to  its  own  sweet  will 
and  pleasure,  or  of  precipitating  a  struggle  which 
could  only  have  the  same  result.  If  at  the  end  of  it  all 


American  Influences 

we  are  permitted  to  retain  Simon's  Bay  as  a  coaling- 
station  for  our  Navy,  we  may  consider  ourselves  lucky. 
The  Afrikander  Commonwealth  may  split  off  from 
the  British  Empire.  It  does  not  exactly  follow  that 
it  will  array  itself  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  several  influences  which 
may  tend  in  that  direction. 

In  the  first  place  very  many  of  the  most  energetic 
citizens  in  Johannesburg  will  be  American  citizens. 
In  the  second  place  they  will,  for  some  time  at  least, 
be  in  very  strained  relations  with  Great  Britain.  What 
would  be  more  natural  than  for  them  to  seek  support 
in  the  sister  republic  across  the  seas? 

Great  Britain  would  not  be  the  only  Power  against 
which  the  Afrikander  Commonwealth  might  find  that 
it  needed  the  friendly  protection  of  a  first-class  fleet. 
German  territory  marches  with  that  which  is  now 
British  South  Africa,  both  on  the  east  and  west,  and 
German  ambition  has  often  marked  Dutch  South 
Africa  as  her  natural  inheritance. 

Nor  is  fear  the  only  motive  which  might  drive  the 
Afrikanders  under  the  sheltering  wing  of  the  Ameri- 
can Eagle.  Delagoa  Bay,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
international  law,  thanks  to  the  unfortunate  award 
of  Marshal  MacMahon,  belongs  by  sovereign  right 
to  Portugal ;  but  the  ground  around  Delagoa  Bay  is 
held  as  real  estate  by  the  millionaires  of  the  Rand. 
They  will  attempt  in  the  first  case  to  deal  with  Portu- 
gal, but  if  they  fail,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that 
if  they  were  assured  of  the  support  of  a  strong  navy, 


Commercial  Invasion 

they  would  attempt  to  secure  the  right  of  ownership 
to  what  is,  after  all,  the  front  door  of  their  own  house. 

Add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  possibility  of  a  native 
rising  can  never  be  absent  from  the  minds  of  the 
white  minority  in  South  Africa.  Australians  may  do 
as  they  please,  their  natives  are  too  few  and  too  weak 
to  menace  their  peace.  In  Africa  it  is  different.  The 
menacing  figure  of  the  Kaffir  is  never  absent  from 
the  South  African  landscape.  The  Afrikanders  would 
feel  much  more  comfortable  if  they  knew  that,  should 
the  worst  come  to  the  worst,  they  could  always  count 
upon  reinforcements  from  beyond  the  sea  in  case  of 
a  native  rising,  and  where  else  could  they  hope  to 
secure  that  after  the  breach  with  England  excepting 
from  the  United  States  ? 

But  it  will  be  said  that  the  sister  republic  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them,  and  as  proof  of  this  we  shall 
be  referred  to  the  cold-blooded  fashion  in  which  Presi- 
dent McKinley  left  the  South  African  Republics  to 
their  fate.  But  many  circumstances  combined  to  ren- 
der it  difficult  for  President  McKinley  to  take  any 
other  course.  The  United  States  had  just  emerged 
from  a  war  in  which  they  believed,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
that  they  had  been  saved  from  a  hostile  European  com- 
bination by  the  benevolent  neutrality  and  veiled  alli- 
ance of  Great  Britain. 

They  were  also  waging  a  war  of  their  own  in  the 
Philippines  which  rendered  it  practically  impossible 
for  them  to  pose  as  the  champions  of  a  nation  rightly 
struggling  to  be  free.  And,  in  the  third  place,  there 


66 


Quid  Pro  Quo 

will  be  a  very  great  difference  between  an  English- 
speaking  republic,  largely  officered  by  Americans,  ap- 
pealing to  Washington  against  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  British  Empire  to  enforce  the  principle  of  taxa- 
tion without  representation,  and  a  similar  appeal  which 
came  to  the  same  republic  from  Dutch-speaking  States 
which  were  popularly  believed  to  be  little  better  than 
barbarians  offering  a  vain  resistance  to  the  onward 
march  of  civilization.  Fiscal  considerations  are  also 
likely  to  pull  in  the  same  direction. 

The  United  States  has  been  diligently  preparing 
to  invade  the  South  African  market  as  soon  as  the 
war  affords  them  an  opportunity.  Mr.  Roosevelt,  in 
carrying  out  the  policy  of  President  McKinley,  and 
using  the  tariff  as  a  means  of  securing  reciprocal  con- 
cessions in  the  shape  of  reductions  of  tariff  on  Ameri- 
can goods,  would  be  able  to  offer  very  tempting  terms 
to  the  Afrikander  Commonwealth. 

The  Kimberley  mines  export  every  year  nearly  five 
million  pounds'  worth  of  diamonds  to  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Upon  these  diamonds  the  American  cus- 
toms duty  is  ten  per  cent.  Here  is  an  opportunity  of 
making  a  reduction  in  return  for  a  quid  pro  quo.  The 
United  States  in  1900  exported  to  South  Africa  goods 
valued  at  twenty  million  dollars,  not  including  imports 
for  military  use  or  American  goods  shipped  in  Eng- 
land. This  showed  an  increase  of  three  and  a  half 
million  dollars  over  the  preceding  twelve  months,  not- 
withstanding the  drop  that  was  occasioned  by  the  war, 
which  practically  extinguished  the  demand  for  agri- 


67 


Quid  Pro  Quo 

cultural  machinery.  Supposing  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  is 
able  to  do  a  deal  with  Mr.  Rhodes,  cutting  the  duty  on 
diamonds  by  fifty  per  cent,  in  return  for  a  similar  cut 
on  duties  charged  on  American  imports  into  the  Cape, 
who  could  complain  ? 

Between  July  ist,  1899,  and  January  3ist,  1901, 
the  Cape  Government  imported  twenty  American  loco- 
motives, and  since  then  they  have  been  buying  exten- 
sively in  the  United  States.  From  the  account  given 
by  Mr.  C.  Elliott,  ex-General  Manager  of  the  Cape 
Railway  Administration,  the  Americans  not  only  sup- 
plied the  engines  on  trust,  but  they  returned  £450  on 
six  locomotives,  stating  that  the  cost  of  construction 
had  not  been  so  great  as  was  anticipated.  The  Ameri- 
cans having  got  hold  are  not  to  be  shaken  off.  Mr. 
Pingree's  visit  to  the  seat  of  war  last  year,  in  the  joint 
interest  of  political  curiosity  and  the  promotion  of 
the  sale  of  American  boots,  was  but  one  among  many 
illustrations  of  the  care  and  thoroughness  with  which 
the  Americans  are  preparing  to  seize  the  South  Afri- 
can market.  They  leave  to  us  the  cost,  the  risk,  the 
sacrifices  of  the  war.  They  reserve  to  themselves  the 
profit  to  be  made  by  exporting  American  goods  to  the 
customers  who  will  be  left  alive  at  the  close  of  the 
war. 

Few  things  seem  less  improbable  than  that  the 
Afrikander  Commonwealth,  under  the  leadership  of 
Johannesburg,  if  constituted  as  an  independent  re- 
public, might  very  soon  find  itself  in  friendly  treaty 
alliance  with  the  United  States. 


Quid  Pro  Quo 

The  experiment,  therefore,  of  attempting  to  enforce 
our  dominion  over  unwilling  subjects  in  South  Africa 
is  likely  to  terminate  disastrously  for  the  Empire.  The 
fact  that  what  would  be  a  source  of  weakness  to  Great 
Britain  would  be  a  source  of  strength  to  the  United 
States  is  due  solely  to  the  difference  between  willing 
and  unwilling  subjects. 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fifth 

Of  the  "West  Indies  and  Thereabouts 

WE  now  turn  from  what  may  be  regarded  as  the 
diseased  members  of  the  British  Empire,  who  being 
in  unwilling  and  enforced  subjection,  can  be  counted 
upon  to  lose  no  opportunity  of  transferring  their 
allegiance  from  the  King  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  those  parts  of  the  British  Empire  which 
are  most  likely  to  succumb  to  the  operation  of  the 
law  of  political  gravitation. 

In  the  case  of  the  United  States  the  force  of  this 
is  likely  to  be  felt  most  strongly  in  the  West  Indian 
islands.  The  British  flag  at  the  present  moment  is 
flying  over  a  series  of  archipelagoes  of  small  islands 
lying  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  immediately  to  the  south 
of  Florida  and  at  the  doorstep  of  the  United  States. 
70 


Jamaica's  Decline 

Of  these  islands  by  far  the  most  important  is  Ja- 
maica, after  which  come  Trinidad  and  Barbadoes. 
The  others  are  islets  rather  than  islands,  but  together 
they  figure  conspicuously  in  the  list  of  British  posses- 
sions in  North  America. 

Distinct  from  the  West  Indian  group,  lying  farther 
to  the  northeast  are  the  Bahamas,  and  still  farther 
away  lie  the  islands  of  Bermuda.  The  Bermudas  are 
coming  more  and  more  to  hold  the  relation  to  the 
United  States  which  the  Channel  Islands  hold  to 
France.  Although  lying  close  at  her  doors,  they  are 
under  a  foreign  flag,  and  they  attract  every  year  an 
increasing  number  of  visitors  from  the  mainland. 
The  West  Indian  islands,  these  "summer  isles  of 
Eden  set  in  azure  seas,"  which  excited  the  enthusiasm 
of  Charles  Kingsley,  and  many  another  traveller  before 
and  since,  have  long  been  the  despair  of  our  Colonial 
Office.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  been  engaged,  ever 
since  his  accession  to  office,  in  a  desperate  endeavor 
to  restore  some  semblance  of  prosperity  to  our  un- 
fortunate possessions  which  have  been  ruined  by  the 
sugar  bounties. 

Jamaica  possesses  an  exceptional  interest,  for  it  was 
the  only  colony  founded  by  Oliver  Cromwell.  Like 
many  another  colony,  it  came  into  existence  by  acci- 
dent rather  than  design.  The  great  naval  expedition 
which  he  launched  to  attack  the  power  of  Spain  in 
San  Domingo  miscarried  and  picked  up  Jamaica  as  a 
kind  of  consolation  prize.  For  nearly  200  years  after 
its  annexation  Jamaica  prospered.  It  survived  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves.  But  it  received  a  deadly 

7J 


Jamaica's  Decline 

wound  when  the  imposition  of  the  sugar  bounties  in 
the  interests  of  beet  sugar  ruined  the  cane  sugar  plan- 
tations of  the  West  Indies. 

Mr.  Brooks  Adams,  in  a  remarkable  and  very  som- 
bre paper  on  "England's  Decadence  in  the  West  In- 
dies," republished  by  Macmillan  in  "America's  Eco- 
omic  Supremacy,"  attributes  the  destruction  of  the 
West  Indies  to  the  policy  of  Germany.  He  says: 
"Taken  in  all  its  ramifications  this  destruction  of  the 
sugar  interest  may  probably  be  reckoned  the  heaviest 
financial  blow  that  a  competitor  has  ever  dealt  Great 
Britain." 

Towards  1880  the  British  West  Indies  made  a  profit 
calculated  at  about  £6,500,000  per  annum.  Germany 
ruined  the  West  Indies  by  adherence  to  Napoleon's 
policy  of  attack.  For  nearly  three  generations  the 
chief  Continental  nations,  with  hostile  intent,  paid 
bounties  on  the  export  of  sugar. 

In  August,  1896,  Germany  and  Austria  doubled  their 
bounties,  and  the  following  spring  France  advanced 
hers.  The  English  got  their  sugar  cheaper  at  the 
cost  of  the  taxpayers  of  the  Continent,  but  the  cane 
sugar  industry  was  practically  destroyed;  the  islands 
of  Dominica  and  Santa  Lucia  have  become  almost 
wildernesses ;  the  whole  archipelago  has  been  blighted. 
Our  consumption  of  sugar  has  enormously  increased. 
In  1869  every  Englishman  consumed  42  Ibs.  of  sugar 
as  against  35  Ibs.  in  the  United  States.  The  other 
countries  varied  from  the  Italian  minimum  of  7  Ibs. 
per  head  to  a  maximum  of  28  Ibs.  in  France. 


72 


From  Bad  to  Worse 

As  the  result  of  artificial  cheapening  of  sugar  by 
means  of  subsidies  the  English  consumption  per  head 
rose  in  1897  to  84  Ibs.,  that  is  to  say,  while  the  price 
of  sugar  was  reduced  by  one-half  the  consumption  of 
sugar  doubled.  Our  sugar  bill  remained  the  same, 
but  every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  us  doubled  his 
consumption.  Mr.  Brooks  Adams  thinks  that  we  acted 
unwisely  in  accepting  the  bribe  offered  us  in  the 
shape  of  cheap  sugar.  In  his  opinion  we  should  have 
fought  the  bounties  by  countervailing  duties,  and  so 
have  warded  off  the  blow  that  was  levelled  against 
the  prosperity  of  our  own  colonies. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  what  is 
the  opinion  of  the  West  Indian  planters.  They  main- 
tain that  the  bounty  system  was  not  fair  competition, 
and  that  they  have  been  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  a 
doctrinaire  Free  Trade.  The  subsequent  efforts  which 
have  been  made  by  Mr.  Chamberlain  to  restore  the 
prosperity  of  these  islands  have  not  been  remarkably 
successful. 

For  a  long  time  past  they  have  been  sinking  from 
bad  to  worse  until  in  the  last  decade  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  it  became  evident  that  something  must  be 
done,  and  done  at  once,  if  our  West  Indian  Colonies 
were  not  to  go  bankrupt.  Mr.  Chamberlain  appointed 
a  Commission,  of  which  Sir  Edward  Grey  was  the 
most  important  member.  It  issued  a  report,  and  Mr. 
Chamberlain  has  ever  since  been  more  or  less  strenu- 
ously endeavoring  to  carry  out  its  recommendations. 

So  far  the  activity  of  the  Colonial  Secretary  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  fraught  with  much  benefit 

73 


From  Bad  to  Worse 

to  the  Colony.  The  impoverished  inhabitants  are 
much  more  painfully  conscious  of  the  immediate  in- 
crease in  taxation  which  the  changes  have  involved 
than  the  more  or  less  remote  and  hypothetical  advan- 
tages which  they  are  promised  in  the  future.  A  sub- 
sidy to  a  line  of  cargo  steamers  has  not  been  suffi- 
cient to  bring  the  up-country  negro  into  immediate 
touch  with  Covent  Garden  market,  and  discontent 
seems  to  be  rife  in  the  island,  which  in  some  districts 
resembles  nothing  so  much  as  a  huge  pauper  warren. 

There  are  some  Jamaicans,  indeed,  who  complain 
bitterly  that  Mr.  Chamberlain's  method  of  promoting 
the  prosperity  of  Jamaica  bears  too  much  resemblance 
to  the  time-honored  expedient  of  feeding  a  dog  with  a 
piece  of  his  own  tail. 

It  will  be  admitted  even  by  the  greatest  optimist 
that  the  state  of  Jamaica  and  of  the  other  West  In- 
dian Colonies  still  leaves  much  to  be  desired,  and  it  is 
equally  indisputable  that  West  Indians  themselves  at- 
tribute their  disasters  to  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  Em- 
pire to  which  they  belong.  Not  only  so,  but  the  fact 
that  the  inhabitants  did  not  suffer  even  worse  things 
they  attribute  to  the  enterprise  of  a  Boston  man  who 
established  a  flourishing  trade  in  bananas  with  the 
United  States.  A  writer  in  the  Daily  Telegraph  of 
Jamaica,  says:  "Poor  impoverished  Jamaica  should 
never  be  ungrateful  to  America  for  making  markets 
for  our  sugars  and  bananas  during  a  period  when  in 
England  the  policy  was,  'Oh,  cut  the  painter,  and  let 
the  colonies  go !'  " 

It  is  not  so  long  since  the  United  States  admitted 

74 


American  Encouragement 

West  Indian  sugar  free  of  duty,  and  that  fact  is  not 
forgotten  in  Jamaica.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  no  doubt 
endeavored  to  develop  trade  between  Jamaica  and  the 
Mother  Country,  but  so  far  with  singularly  little  suc- 
cess. Lord  Pirbright,  writing  in  the  National  Review 
for  December,  1896,  declared  that  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
policy  was  foredoomed  to  failure,  and  that  the  re- 
fusal to  adopt  a  policy  of  retaliation  for  the  purpose 
of  fighting  the  sugar  bounties  would  inevitably  result 
in  the  loss  of  the  sugar  colonies. 

He  wrote :  "We  cannot  strengthen  the  bonds  of  loy- 
alty which  hold  the  West  Indies  to  the  Mother  Coun- 
try by  the  promise  of  eleemosynary  doles  which  are  to 
compensate  them  for  the  loss  of  their  flourishing  in- 
dustry, and  keep  them  from  bankruptcy.  If  they  were 
to  accept  this  grant  in  aid,  which  must  become  a  per- 
manent grant,  they  must  inevitably  degenerate.  The 
loss  of  independence  would  certainly  beget  a  feeling 
of  distrust  in  the  Mother  Country  to  whose  inaction 
they  would  attribute  their  dependent  position. 

"Geographically  much  nearer  to  America  than  to 
Great  Britain,  they  might  seek  and  would  certainly 
receive  from  the  United  States  not  alone  the  commer- 
cial facilities  which  we  deny  them,  but  other  induce- 
ments of  far  greater  importance.  Trade  would  follow 
the  flag.  That  flag  would  no  longer  be  ours,  and  we 
might  have  to  deplore  not  only  the  ruin,  but  also  the 
loss  of  our  West  Indian  possessions." 

When  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  beginning  his  experi- 
ments in  the  act  of  resuscitating  a  perishing  colony  by 
the  time-honored  method  of  increasing  the  import 

75 


Mr.  Chamberlain's  Attitude 

duties  on  British  goods,  the  United  States,  abandon- 
ing the  policy  of  abstention  from  all  interference  in 
the  affairs  of  other  nations,  suddenly  stepped  forth 
armed  from  head  to  heel  as  the  avenger  of  the  wrongs 
of  Cuba.  Spain  was  Hriven  from  the  Western  Main, 
Cuba  was  freed,  and  Porto  Rico  was  annexed  by  the 
conquering  Power. 

The  advent  of  the  United  States  as  a  colonizing 
power  in  the  midst  of  the  West  Indian  Archipelago 
could  not  but  thrill  with  excitement  even  the  lethargic 
imagination  of  the  lotus-eaters  of  our  Colonies. 
For  the  United  States  is  more  than  a  political  federa- 
tion of  forty-three  Sovereign  Republics.  It  represents 
76,000,000  human  beings,  each  of  whom  has  probably 
a  more  toothsome  appetite  for  the  delicate  products 
of  the  West  Indies  than  the  men  of  any  other  race 
now  living  on  the  planet. 

The  immediate  result  of  the  annexation  of  Porto 
Rico  was  to  give  an  immense  stimulus  to  the  produc- 
tion of  sugar.  When  the  island  was  wrenched  from 
the  nerveless  hand  of  Spain,  her  annual  export  of 
sugar  was  only  40,000  tons.  In  1900  she  exported 
100,000  tons.  In  1901  it  is  expected  that  her  export 
will  reach  150,000  tons.  The  production  of  coffee  is 
also  going  up  with  leaps  and  bounds.  It  is  obvious 
that,  if  this  is  not  a  mere  spurt,  if  annexation  by  the 
United  States  is  proved  to  be  like  the  touch  of  an 
enchanter's  wand  causing  a  flood  of  wealth  to 
spring  up  in  these  West  Indian  Islands,  there  is 
not  a  sugar  island  now  under  the  Union  Jack  that 


76 


The  Example  of  Porto  Rico 

will  not  be  clamoring  to  be  transferred  to  the  United 
States. 

Whatever  we  may  try  to  do  the  fact  remains  solid 
as  granite,  and  unalterable  by  all  that  we  can  do,  the 
United  States,  with  its  enormous  masses  of  would-be 
purchasers  of  all  manner  of  sweetstuffs  and  tropical 
fruit,  is  and  always  must  be  the  best  market  for  the 
West  Indian  producer.  After  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  on  the  2/th  of  May,  1901,  when 
the  legality  of  the  Foraker  Act  imposing  special 
duties  on  goods  imported  from  Porto  Rico  was  af- 
firmed by  five  voices  against  four,  there  is  nothing 
to  hinder  the  United  States  taking  over  any  number 
of  West  Indian  Islands.* 

It  is  as  yet  too  soon  to  pronounce  upon  the  net 
economic  result  of  the  annexation  of  Porto  Rico.  But 
should  the  first  promise  be  realized,  the  economic  pull 
towards  the  United  States  will  be  irresistible. 


*  As  this  case  is  of  great  historical  and  political  importance, 
I  quote  here  Mr.  WelTman's  lucid  summary  of  its  purport : — 

"  i.  The  Constitution  does  not  follow  the  flag  ex  propria 
•vigorc — of  its  own  force. 

"  2.  The  United  States  may  enter  upon  a  colonial  policy — 
has  already  entered  upon  it — without  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution. 

"3.  This  nation  has  all  the  powers  that  rightfully  belong 
to  a  sovereign  international  state  and  may  acquire  territory 
without  incorporating  such  territory  as  an  integral  part  of 
itself. 

"4.  The  simple  act  of  acquisition  by  treaty  or  otherwise 
does  not  automatically  bring  about  such  incorporation;  and 
incorporation  is  effected  only  by  the  will  of  the  States  acting 
consciously  through  Congress. 

"  5.  Porto  Rico  is  not  a  part  of  the  United  States,  but 
'a  territory  appurtenant  and  belonging  to  the  United 

77 


Growth  of  American  Trade 

It  would  seem  from  the  most  recent  statistics  that 
Mr.  Chamberlain's  policy  has  failed  to  check  the  prog- 
ress of  the  movement  which  tends  to  place  Jamaica 
more  and  more  under  the  economic  ascendency  of  the 
United  States.  Geographical  position  counts  for 
much.  Jamaica  is  within  a  few  hours'  steam  of  Cuba, 
which  is  in  turn  only  a  few  hours'  steam  from  Florida, 
and  "nearest  neighbors  best  customers"  seems  to  hold 
good  in  the  West  Indies  as  elsewhere.  In  1896  50 
per  cent,  of  Jamaican  exports  went  to  the  United 
States,  and  only  27  per  cent,  to  Great  Britain.  After 
four  years  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  policy  the  share  of 
the  United  States  had  risen  to  63  per  cent.,  and  that  of 
the  United  Kingdom  had  shrunk  to  19  per  cent. 

The  figures  are  not  quite  so  bad  as  far  as  relates 
to  the  purchases  made  by  Jamaica  in  American  and 
British  markets,  but  even  here  there  has  been  no  im- 
provement. In  1896  41  per  cent,  of  her  imports  came 
from  the  United  States,  and  48  per  cent,  from  the 
United  Kingdom.  In  1900  the  share  of  the  United 
States  had  risen  from  41  to  43  per  cent.,  and  that 
of  the  United  Kingdom  had  fallen  from  48  per  cent, 
to  47  per  cent.  The  attempt  to  foster  a  trade  between 

States.'  Tariffs  established  by  Congress  upon  goods  com- 
ing from  or  going  to  Porto  Rico  are  valid  and  collectable 
The  Foraker  Act  is  constitutional. 

"6.  Congress  has  full  power  over  the  territories,  may 
regulate  and  dispose  of  them,  may  at  its  discretion  extend 
the  Constitution  to  them,  may  admit  them  as  states,  or  may 
hold  them  indefinitely  as  territories,  colonies,  or  dependencies. 

"  7  Porto  Rico  is  not  a  '  foreign  country,'  and  therefore  the 
Dingley  law,  which  levies  duties  upon  goods  imported  '  from 
foreign  countries,'  does  not  apply  to  Porto  Rico.  Nor  yet  is 
'  Porto  Rico  a  part  of  the  United  States.'  It  is  a  domestic 
territory,  over  which  Congress  has  '  unrestricted  control.' " 

78 


Growth  of  American  Trade 

Jamaica  and  Canada  does  not  seem  to  have  been  very 
successful.  Her  exports  to  the  Dominion  stood  at 
1.6  per  cent,  in  1896,  and  at  the  same  figure  exactly  in 
1900.  Her  imports  from  Canada,  which  were  7.5 
per  cent,  in  1896,  had  dropped  to  7.1  per  cent,  in  1900. 
The  Boston  Journal,  of  September  6th,  1901,  comment- 
ing on  the  significance  of  these  figures,  remarked : — 

"We  take  perhaps  nine-tenths  of  Jamaica's  sugar, 
nearly  all  her  fruit,  much  of  her  coffee  and  cocoa,  a 
great  share  of  her  logwood,  almost  all  her  cocoanuts. 
The  famous  Jamaica  rum  is  the  only  one  of  the  island's 
products  which  is  consumed  chiefly  by  Great  Britain. 

"Jamaica  is  so  near  the  United  States  and  stands 
so  closely  related  to  our  continental  system,  that  this 
steady  drift  of  her  trade  away  from  Great  Britain 
and  towards  us  is  not  strange.  It  is  wholly  natural 
and  intelligible.  But  it  is  obvious  that  it  makes  the 
British  connection  increasingly  difficult  and  expensive. 

"With  Porto  Rico  enjoying  absolute  free  trade  with 
the  United  States,  and  Cuba  almost  its  equivalent 
under  reciprocity,  the  British  West  India  possessions 
in  the  Antilles  will  have  either  to  be  given  up  or  main- 
tained at  a  cost  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  real 
value  to  the  Imperial  Government." 

The  question  whether  the  movement  towards  annex- 
ation to  the  United  States  will  acquire  an  impetus 
which  will  make  it  irresistible  depends  upon  the  results 
which  will  follow  the  American  annexation  of  Porto 
Rico  and  the  American  protectorate  established  over 
Cuba.  If  the  value  of  all  real  estate  in  Porto  Rico 

79 


Benefit  of  Annexation 

goes  up  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  if  the  Colony  be- 
comes as  prosperous  as  Jamaica  is  the  reverse,  the 
sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  Union  Jack  will  not  long 
stand  the  dissolvent  of  such  a  contrast. 

Cuba  is  not  annexed  to  the  United  States — at  least, 
not  yet — but  the  advantage  of  being  within  the  Union 
and  so  avoiding  the  tariff  wall  which  at  present 
limits  the  access  of  the  products  of  Cuba  to  the 
American  market  will  be  certain  to  operate  with  steady 
pressure  in  favor  of  annexation.  The  United  States 
will  not  annex  Cuba,  but  Cuba  will  annex  itself  to  the 
United  States.  That  is  to  say,  she  will  do  so  if  the 
Americans  convince  the  Cubans  that  annexation  will 
put  more  money  into  their  pocket  and  will  deprive 
them  of  no  essential  liberty.  The  force  of  gravitation 
is  continuous,  and  the  example  of  voluntary  incorpora- 
tion is  apt  to  prove  contagious. 

When  General  Gomez,  the  Cuban  patriot,  left  the 
United  States  after  a  tour  through  the  Union  last  sum- 
mer, he  expressed  his  conviction  that,  after  a  period  of 
absolute  independence,  Cuba  would  do  well  to  throw  in 
her  lot  with  the  United  States.  It  is  usually  the  case 
that  if  once  a  country  tastes  the  delights  of  absolute  in- 
dependence she  will  never  seek  to  merge  her  destiny 
with  any  neighbor,  no  matter  how  great  and  powerful 
that  neighbor  may  be.  But  the  Americans  may  reverse 
this. 

The  spectacle  of  a  well-governed  and  prosperous 
Porto  Rico  may  prove  potent  enough  to  overcome  the 
desire  of  the  Cubans  to  fly  their  own  flag  outside  the 
Union.  General  Gomez  declared  that  not  only  did  he 

80 


Benefit  of  Annexation 

contemplate  the  merging  of  Cuba  in  the  Republic, 
but  that  many  other  West  Indians  believed  that  San 
Domingo  and  Hayti  would  be  glad  to  accept  the  pro- 
tectorate of  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

In  discussing  the  probable  economic  forces  which 
tend  to  add  these  outlying  English-speaking  colonies 
to  the  great  American  Republic,  it  should  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  Americans  would  bring  to  such  new 
possessions  much  more  than  mere  prestige  and  capital. 
There  is  a  certain  lethargy  in  these  lotus-eaters'  Para- 
dises which  it  would  take  all  the  Americans'  energy  to 
overcome.  "If  any  influence  and  energy,"  said  Dr. 
Shaw,  very  truly,  some  years  ago,  "can  ever  be  ef- 
fectively applied  to  lift  the  West  Indies  out  of  the  po- 
litical, social  and  industrial  quagmire  into  which  they 
have  sunk,  such  rescue  must  come  from  the  United 
States."  It  is  difficult  to  see  what  answer  there  is  to 
this.  Sir  Wemyss  Reid  has  just  told  us  that  an  Amer- 
ican Cabinet  Minister  at  Washington  spoke  to  him  as 
if  the  absorption  of  our  West  Indian  Colonies  by  the 
United  States  was  a  foregone  conclusion. 

All  the  arguments  which  apply  to  the  West  Indian 
Islands  apply  mutatis  mutandis  to  the  only  two  tracts 
of  territory  which  we  possess  in  South  and  Central 
America.  British  Guiana,  the  delimitation  of  whose 
frontiers  nearly  involved  us  in  trouble  with  the  United 
States  a  few  years  ago,  is  forbidden  to  extend  its 
frontiers  by  virtue  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The 
English-speaking  men  who  live  under  the  Union  Jack 
in  the  British  Colony  of  Guiana  are  rigorously  con- 
fined within  the  existing  frontiers  of  the  province. 

81 


Benefit  of  Annexation 

If  they  were  to  transfer  their  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  that  interdict  would  immediately  be  repealed. 
They  could  then  extend  the  outposts  of  their  territory 
as  far  inland  as  they  pleased.  At  present  they  are 
handicapped  by  the  Union  Jack.  They  are  as  much 
Americans  as  any  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
But  because  they  are  in  organic  relation  with  the 
Mother  Country  they  are  denied  all  rights  of  interior 
expansion.  They  have  no  hinterland,  and  they  are 
made  to  feel  at  every  turn  that,  so  far  as  the  develop- 
ment of  their  colony  is  concerned,  it  would  be  better  to 
be  an  independent' republic  than  to  belong  to  the  vast 
system  of  the  British  Empire. 

However  much  we  may  regret  the  loss  of  our  West 
Indian  Colonies,  our  regret  will  be  tempered  by  satis- 
faction at  the  thought  that  we  have  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  see  what  the  monarchical  section  of  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking race  can  do  in  making  these  communities 
happy,  prosperous,  and  contented.  If  we  fail  so  com- 
pletely that  they  are  anxious  to  try  whether  better  re- 
sults would  not  follow  if  they  are  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  republican  half  of  the  race  we  have  no 
reason  to  complain.  Nay,  if  the  squalid  poverty  of 
many  of  our  fellow-subjects  could  be  permanently  re- 
lieved by  allowing  these  islands  to  become  the  colonies 
and  dependencies  of  the  United  States,  it  would  be 
our  duty,  not  to  retard,  but  to  expedite  the  transfer. 
If  Britain  wishes  for  no  unwilling  subjects,  neither 
does  she  wish  to  have  any  citizens  in  the  Empire  who 
are  reminded  at  every  turn  that  they  are  suffering  in 
body  or  in  estate  from  their  connection  with  the 
Mother  Country. 
82 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Sixth 

Of  Newfoundland  and  Canada 

IT  is  always  hazardous  to  prophesy,  but  it  would  not 
be  surprising  if  England's  oldest  Colony  were  to  be 
the  first  to  desert  the  Empire  in  order  to  throw  in  her 
lot  with  the  Republic. 

The  justification  for  this  somewhat  audacious  fore- 
cast is  the  fact  that  Newfoundland  alone,  of  all  our 
Colonies,  finds  its  vital  interests  sacrificed  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Empire.  None  of  our  other  Colonies 
has  such  a  grievance  as  that  which  troubles  the  New- 
foundlanders. 

None  of  our  other  Colonies  is  subjected  to  the 
daily  temptation  which  confronts  them  in  the  shape 
of  the  self-evident  proposition  that  their  material  in- 
terests would  be  benefited  by  a  transfer  of  their  allegi- 
ance from  the  Union  Jack  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  facts  of  the  case  lie  in  a  nutshell.  When  New- 
foundland was  first  settled,  it  was  not  regarded  as  a 
Colony  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term.  It  was  only 
looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  pier  or  landing-stage  on 

83 


The  Rise  of  Newfoundland 

which  the  hardy  fishers  sent  out  from  Bristol  could 
land  and  dry  their  nets. 

Newfoundland,  in  other  words,  was  not  regarded  as 
having  any  existence  other  than  that  of  a  mere  append- 
age to  the  cod  fishery.  For  the  first  two  centuries  after 
its  discovery  no  one  at  home  seems  to  have  dreamed 
of  the  possibility  of  making  it  the  seat  of  a  British 
Colony. 

Colonization,  indeed,  was,  if  not  actually  forbidden, 
at  least  discountenanced  rather  than  encouraged;  and 
even  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  original  idea  that  Newfoundland  was  little  more 
than  a  coast-line  which  was  convenient  for  the  water- 
ing and  refitting  of  the  fishing  fleet  continued  to  domi- 
nate the  minds  of  our  statesmen.  But  for  this,  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  men  who  negotiated  the 
Treaty  of  Ryswick  would  ever  have  made  over  to  the 
French  Government  the  exclusive  use  of  the  French 
shore. 

This  arrangement,  which  was  subsequently  con- 
firmed at  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  half  a  century  later, 
was  based  upon  the  supposition  that  the  only  thing 
worth  considering  in  Newfoundland  was  the  use  of  its 
shores  as  convenient  and  indispensable  appurtenances 
of  the  fishing  banks. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  explanation  of  this 
surrender  to  the  French  of  a  region  stretching  about 
three  hundred  miles  from  north  to  south  on  the  west 
coast,  the  arrangement  was  solemnly  ratified  by  a 
treaty  which  still  remains  in  force.  Hence  the  cause  of 
most  of  the  evils  which  afflict  Newfoundland. 
84 


The  Rise  of  Newfoundland 

For  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  the  signature  of 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  the  arrangement  which  gave 
the  west  shore  to  the  French  worked  fairly  well ;  but  in 
the  last  fifty  years  Newfoundland,  from  being  a  mere 
fishing  station,  became  a  thriving  Colony.  It  attracted 
emigrants  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  notably 
from  Ireland ;  they  increased  and  multiplied,  and  at 
last  succeeded  in  gaining  recognition  as  one  of  the 
hardiest  and  most  industrious  of  all  the  Colonies  under 
the  Crown. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  colonization  of  Newfound- 
land begun  than  the  colonists  fell  foul  of  the  French 
shore.  The  more  they  increased  and  multiplied,  the 
more  intolerable  did  it  seem  to  them  that  they  should 
be  deprived  of  the  right  to  use  three  hundred  miles  of 
their  own  coast. 

In  virtue  of  a  treaty  the  original  terms  of  which  had 
been  strained  to  such  an  extent  as  to  convert  the  right 
conceded  to  the  French  to  land  and  dry  their  nets  into 
a  right  of  veto  by  them  upon  the  erection  of  any  fac- 
tories or  similar  buildings  along  the  whole  length  of 
the  coast,  there  sprang  up  the  agitation  against  the 
French  shore — an  agitation  which  has  increased  in  ve- 
hemence with  years ;  and  although  it  may  be  for  the 
moment  lulled,  it  may  at  any  time  revive  and  rage 
with  all  the  more  fury  because  it  has  been  quieted  for  a 
time. 

Some  years  ago  I  had  an  opportunity  of  discussing 
the  whole  matter  at  length  with  the  representatives 
sent  over  by  the  Newfoundland  Government  in  order 

25 


Thoughts  of  Secession 

to  impress  upon  Downing  Street  the  urgent  importance 
of  extinguishing  the  French  rights  on  the  west  coast. 
They  made  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that,  if  the 
British  Government  finally  refused  to  clear  out  the 
French,  they  would  be  compelled  as  a  mere  matter 
of  self-preservation  to  look  to  the  only  other  govern- 
ment from  whom  they  could  obtain  relief.  For  some 
years  the  question  whether  Newfoundland  had  not 
better  secede  from  the  Empire  and  appeal  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States  had  been  in  the  air,  al- 
though it  did  not  figure  much  in  public  debate  either 
on  platform  or  in  the  press. 

It  is  very  easy  to  understand  how  it  was  that  the 
Newfoundlanders  should  turn  a  wistful  and  longing 
gaze  towards  Washington.  A  combination  of  economic 
and  political  motives  may  strain  severely  the  allegiance 
of  Newfoundland  to  the  Mother  Country.  At  present 
the  American  market  is  practically  closed  to  the  product 
of  Newfoundland  fishery.  Of  the  million  pounds' 
worth  of  cod  caught  off  these  banks  half  goes  to 
British  ports  and  the  other  half  to  Portugal  and  Brazil. 
But  Newfoundland  imports  goods  from  the  United 
States  of  the  annual  value  of  £300,000. 

It  is,  however,  less  for  the  sake  of  opening  the  Amer- 
ican market  than  for  the  gain  of  getting  rid  of  the 
French  shore  difficulty  that  annexation  might  come  to 
be  desired  by  our  Colonists.  The  question  of  the 
French  shore  is  very  simple.  France  has  certain  un- 
deniable rights  dating  from  the  eighteenth  century,  se- 
cured by  a  formal  treaty  to  which  England  was  a  party. 
86 


An  Intolerable  Situation 

Circumstances  have  changed  since  that  treaty  was 
negotiated 

A  state  of  things  has  sprung  up  which  renders  the 
provisions  of  that  treaty  intolerably  irksome  to  a  third 
party  which  was  practically  not  in  existence  when  the 
treaty  was  signed,  namely,  the  self-governing  Colony 
of  Newfoundland.  The  maintenance  of  i:he  provisions 
of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  entails  hardship  upon  the 
Newfoundlanders,  from  which  they  ask  our  govern- 
ment to  relieve  them. 

France  is  by  no  means  irreconcilable  upon  this  ques- 
tion. She  recognizes  the  difficulty  of  our  position  and 
says,  in  effect,  that  she  is  quite  willing  to  surrender  her 
rights  under  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht — for  a  considera- 
tion. The  question  is  what  that  consideration  shall  be. 
For  the  last  twenty  years  the  matter  has  been  discussed 
between  London  and  Paris  without  any  conclusion  be- 
ing arrived  at.  Our  offers  have  never  been  regarded  as 
satisfactory  by  the  French,  and  we  have  hitherto  been 
unable  to  offer  what  the  French  would  accept  as  an 
adequate  equivalent  for  the  abandonment  of  their  rights 
under  the  treaty. 

The  British  Government  has  given  too  many  host- 
ages to  fortune  in  all  parts  of  the  world  to  dare  press 
too  urgently  for  a  settlement  of  the  question.  The 
Newfoundlanders  understand  perfectly  well  that  we 
cannot  squeeze  France  in  Newfoundland  without  ex- 
posing ourselves  to  a  retaliatory  squeeze  in  Egypt. 
Hence  they  say  that  the  local  interests  of  Newfound- 
land have  been  and  are  at  this  moment  being  sacrificed 


A  Possible  Interference 

to  the  general  interests  of  the  British  Empire.     That 
is  the  truth,  and  there  is  no  gainsaying  it. 

Suppose  that  one  fine  day  the  Union  Jack  was 
hauled  down,  and  that  the  United  States  was  suddenly 
invested  with  the  complete  sovereignty  over  New- 
foundland, what  would  happen?  There  would  prob- 
ably be  a  Commission  appointed  to  take  evidence  about 
the  French  shore  question.  That  evidence  would  be 
presented  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  when  it  would 
appear  that  the  growth  of  the  Colony  was  hampered 
and  its  permanent  interests  injuriously  affected  by  the 
maintenance  of  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht. 
It  would  further  be  reported  that,  in  order  to  give  the 
Colony  a  fair  chance  and  10  relieve  the  United  States 
of  a  constant  source  of  irritation  threatening  the  gen- 
eral peace,  the  rights  of  France  must  be  terminated. 

After  that  report  had  been  received  and  taken  into 
consideration,  the  American  Secretary  of  State  would 
be  instructed  to  write  to  the  French  Government  to  the 
effect  that  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  re- 
lating to  the  west  coast  of  the  recently  acquired  United 
States  Territory  of  Newfoundland  were  inflicting  an 
intolerable  grievance  upon  the  inhabitants  of  New- 
foundland; therefore  the  United  States  Government 
must  formally  give  notice  of  their  decision  to  terminate 
the  treaty,  but  would  be  very  glad  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations with  France  as  to  the  compensation  which 
France  might  claim  for  the  loss  of  her  rights. 


88 


A  Possible  Interference 

If  the  two  Governments  were  unable  to  arrive  at 
an  amicable  understanding  as  to  what  compensation 
was  adequate,  the  United  States  would  be  willing  to 
refer  the  question  for  adjudication  to  a  court  of  arbi- 
tration constituted  under  the  rules  of  the  Hague  Con- 
ference. France  might  sulk,  and  a  good  many  angry 
articles  might  be  written  in  the  French  papers,  but  the 
position  of  the  United  States  would  be  unassailable. 

The  Americans  have  given  no  hostages  to  fortune 
which  would  compel  them  to  think  twice  and  even 
thrice  before  incurring  French  resentment.  Their  de- 
mand for  the  removal  of  the  restrictions  which  were 
throttling  the  development  of  an  American  territory 
would  be  morally  sound,  and  their  willingness  to  refer 
the  question  of  compensation  to  arbitration  would  place 
their  action  upon  an  incontestably  legal  footing.  The 
United  States,  in  short,  could  in  one  day  liberate  the 
Newfoundlanders  from  the  presence  of  the  French 
on  their  shores  without  danger  of  war  and  without  sac- 
rificing American  interests  in  any  quarter  of  the  world. 

The  Newfoundlanders  have  for  some  time  past 
been  slowly  and  reluctantly  arriving  at  the  conclusion 
that  this  is  what  England  cannot  do.  On  the  day  when 
they  arrive  at  the  final  decision  that  it  is  no  use  look- 
ing any  longer  to  Downing  Street  for  help,  the  move- 
ment in  favor  of  American  annexation  may  sweep  all 
before  it. 

There  are  two  other  considerations  which  should 
not  be  forgotten.  One  is  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
colonists  are  either  of  Irish  birth  or  Irish  extraction. 
There  are  no  more  enthusiastic  supporters  of  the  Irish 

89 


Secession  of  Newfoundland 

National  cause  than  many  of  the  leading  Irish  citizens 
of  St.  John's.  Nothing  would  give  them  greater  joy 
than  in  this  way  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  Ireland  upon 
a  Unionist  Government. 

That,  it  may  be.  said,  is  but  a  sentimental  consid- 
eration. It  is  likely  to  be  strongly  reinforced  by  the 
very  material  argument  of  an  appeal  to  the  breeches 
pocket.  It  is  not  so  many  years  ago  since  the  New- 
foundland local  legislature  negotiated  a  reciprocity 
treaty  with  the  Government  at  Washington  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  for  their  fish  access  to  the  Ameri- 
can market. 

Rightly  or  wrongly,  the  British  Government  refused 
to  ratify  that  treaty,  and  it  fell  through.  If  the  British 
connection  means  not  only  the  maintenance  indefinitely 
of  the  French  on  the  west  coast,  but  also  of  a  barrier 
between  the  Newfoundland  Fisheries  and  the  immense 
market  of  the  United  States,  is  it  unreasonable  to  think 
that  the  drift  towards  the  centre  of  gravity  may  be- 
come irresistible? 

Such  a  secession  would  be  serious  indeed.  New- 
foundland has  hitherto  refused  to  cast  in  its  lot  with 
the  Dominion  of  Canada.  It  has  jealously  preserved 
its  own  independence.  Like  a  great  advance  bastion 
of  the  American  Continent  it  lies  right  across  the  great 
ocean  roadway  which  leads  from  Liverpool  to  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

In  the  hands  of  a  hostile  power  the  harbor  of  St. 

John's  would  be  a  deadly  menace  to  the  whole  of  our 

Canadian  trade.     Both  from  a  naval  and  commercial 

standpoint  the   loss  of   Newfoundland   would  be   so 

90 


The  Right  of  Secession 

serious  a  blow  to  the  Empire  that  it  is  probable  an  at- 
tempt would  be  made  to  prevent  it  by  force  of  arms. 

The  right  of  secession  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  has 
publicly  acknowledged  is  enjoyed  by  the  "independent 
sister  nations"  of  Canada  and  Australia,  would  prob- 
ably be  denied  to  the  smaller  Colony  of  Newfound- 
land ;  but,  if  so,  it  would  only  mean  annexation  at  two 
removes,  because  the  wit  of  man  is  unable  to  devise  or 
the  resources  of  the  British  Empire  are  inadequate  to 
provide  means  whereby  we  could  hold  down  unwilling 
subjects  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

When  Englishmen  discuss  the  possible  pull  of  the 
gravitation  of  the  United  States  upon  their  Empire, 
they  usually  confine  their  remarks  to  Canada.  They 
do  not  realize  that  Canada,  being  by  far  the  largest 
and  most  important  of  the  British  American  posses- 
sions, would  probably  be  the  last  to  succumb  to  the 
continually  increasing  force  of  gravitation  exercised 
by  its  southern  neighbor. 

Canada  alone  of  all  the  British  Colonies  in  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  is  large  enough  and  strong  enough 
to  render  its  independent  existence  thinkable  even  if  the 
protecting  segis  of  Great  Britain  were  withdrawn.  All 
the  other  Colonies  would  probably  drop  like  ripe  plums 
into  Uncle  Sam's  hat  but  for  their  connection  with 
Great  Britain. 

The  Dominion  of  Canada,  however,  has  ambitions  of 
its  own,  and  is  rather  inclined  to  believe  that,  if  an- 
nexation is  to  take  place,  it  would  be  better  for  the 
world  if  the  United  States  were  annexed  by  Canada 
rather  than  Canada  by  the  United  States.  Mr.  Evans, 


Canada's  Growth 

Secretary  of  the  Hamilton  Canadian  Club,  maintained 
that  the  future  belonged  to  Canada,  and  he  quoted 
words  said  to  have  been  uttered  by  the  late  Secretary 
Sevvard  to  the  following  effect : — 

"Having  its  Atlantic  seaport  at  Halifax,  and  its  Pa- 
cific depot  near  Vancouver  Island,  British  America 
would  inevitably  draw  to  it  the  commerce  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  the  United  States.  Thus  from  a  mere  colo- 
nial dependency  it  would  assume  a  controlling  rank  in 
the  world.  To  her  other  nations  would  be  tributary ; 
and  in  vain  would  the  United  States  attempt  to  be  her 
rival."* 

Mr.  Evans  does  not  think  the  fulfillment  of  this 
prophecy  at  all  improbable.  He  maintains  that  where- 
as since  1760  the  population  of  Canada  has  increased 
eighty-fold,  for  then  it  was  only  60,000,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States,  which  was  then  3,000,000, 
has  only  increased  twenty-five-fold.  In  his  opinion 
the  United  States  would  have  more  need  of  Canada 

*  It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  believe  that  Mr.  Seward  actu- 
ally said  this,  for  he  appears  to  have  made  a  remark  in  a  very 
different  sense  in  the  year  1860.  He  said :  "  Standing  here 
and  looking  far  off  into  the  Northwest,  I  see  the  Russian  as 
he  busily  occupies  himself  in  establishing  seaports  and  towns 
and  fortifications  on  the  verge  of  this  continent  as  the  out- 
posts of  St.  Petersburg,  and  I  say,  '  Go  on,  and  build  up  your 
outposts  all  along  the  coast,  even  to  the  Arctic  Ocean ;  they 
will  yet  become  the  outposts  of  my  own  country — monuments 
of  the  civilization  of  the  United  States  in  the  Northwest.' 
So  I  look  off  on  Prince  Rupert's  Land  and  Canada,  and  see 
there  an  ingenious,  enterprising,  and  ambitious  people  occu- 
pied with  bridging  rivers  and  constructing  canals,  railroads, 
and  telegraphs,  to  organize  and  preserve  great  British  prov- 
inces north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  around 
the  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  I  am  able  to  say,  '  It  is  very 
well ;  you  are  building  excellent  States  to  be  hereafter  admit- 
ted into  the  American  Union.'  " 

92 


Canadian  Independence 

than  Canada  of  the  United  States,  for  as  their  territo- 
ries are  being  rilled  up  and  their  forests  destroyed,  in 
the  not  far  future  they  would  be  largely  dependent 
upon  other  countries  for  their  raw  material,  while 
Canada  has  more  undeveloped  wealth  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world. 

The  Canadians  are  the  Scotch  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, and  have  just  as  good  an  opinion  of  them- 
selves as  our  neighbors  in  North  Britain,  who  to  this 
day  resent  bitterly  any  suggestion  that  the  union  which 
merged  Scotland  and  England  in  Great  Britain  was 
the  annexation  of  the  smaller  country  by  the  larger. 

Scotland  and  England  \vere  united  first  by  the  golden 
circlet  of  the  Crown  when  James  I.  and  VI.  crossed 
the  Tweed,  and  founded  an  ill-fated  dynasty  in  Great 
Britain.  Such  monarchical  contrivances  are  not  avail- 
able in  the  New  World.  It  is  probable  that  the  Union, 
if  it  is  to  be  effected,  will  be  due,  not  to  any  golden 
circlets  of  the  Crown,  but  to  the  much  more  prosaic 
but  not  less  potent  agency  of  the  almighty  dollar. 

If  the  Canadians  decide  10  throw  in  their  lot  with  the 
United  States,  John  Bull  will  not  spend  one  red 
cent  in  thwarting  their  wishes.  As  an  "independent 
sister  nation,"  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  publicly  declared 
they  have  unrestricted  liberty  of  secession  from  the 
Empire,  for  the  British  Empire  is  much  more  loosely 
compacted  together  than  the  American  Republic,  which 
welded  its  States  into  one  organic  whole  by  the  great 
Civil  War. 

But  it  is  also  true  that,  though  no  one  in  the  United 


The  Wall  that  Divides 

Kingdom  would  raise  a  finger  to  prevent  Canada 
acting  as  she  thought  best  for  her  own  interests,  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  annex  the 
Canadians  against  their  will  would  be  resisted  by  the 
whole  force  of  the*  British  Empire.  This  is  so  clearly 
understood  on  both  sides  that  no  one  on  the  American 
Continent  dreams  of  taking  by  force  that  which  could 
only  be  valuable  if  it  was  tendered  by  consent.  Hence, 
in  discussing  the  future  of  Canada,  we  may  dismiss 
altogether  from  our  minds  all  question  of  a  solution  by 
armed  force. 

The  frontier  which  divides  the  Dominion  from  the 
Republic  is  unfortified  on  either  side,  but  exists  by  con- 
sent of  both.  Nevertheless,  although  it  is  not  guarded 
by  soldiers  or  protected  by  cannon,  it  is  infested  with 
custom-houses,  the  disappearance  of  which  would  be  so 
great  and  so  palpable  a  gain  that  the  desire  to  get  rid 
of  them  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  influences  which 
tend  in  favor  of  annexation. 

I  remember  the  late  Mr.  Bayard,  just  as  he  was  leav- 
ing the  American  Embassy  in  London,  describing  to  me 
what  he  regarded  as  the  unpardonable  mistake  which 
was  made  by  the  Protectionists  of  the  United  States  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

"No  one,"  he  said,  "has  ever  rendered  adequate  jus-  j 
tice  to  the  service  which  the  Union  received  from  the 
Canadians  during  the  whole  of  that  tremendous  strug- 
gle.   With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  ridiculous  raids 
by  Confederate  sympathizers,  we  were  able  to  leave  the 
whole  of  our  northern  frontier  without  a  garrison.    Not ; 
only  so,  but  we  used  Canada  as  an  inexhaustible  source 

94 


Will  Canada  Resist  Americanization 

of  supplies  throughout  the  whole  war.  Yet  when  at 
the  close  of  the  war  a  deputation  from  the  Canadians 
went  to  Washington,  to  plead  for  free  access  to 
American  markets,  they  were  told  they  could  not  expect 
to  have  the  privileges  of  American  citizens  unless  they 
came  under  the  American  flag.  Now  the  Canadian  can 
be  led,  but  he  cannot  be  bullied.  The  deputation,  in- 
stead of  applying  for  the  privileges  of  American  citi- 
zenship, went  home,  federated  the  Dominion,  con- 
structed the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  postponed  for  many 
years  the  inevitable  union  of  North  America  under  one 
flag.  A  little  less  selfishness  and  a  little  more  states- 
manship would  have  brought  them  all  in  long  ago." 

Whether  Mr.  Bayard  was  right  or  wrong  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  genesis  of  what  may  be  called  Canadian 
Nationalism,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  since  that  date 
the  Canadians  have  resolutely  turned  their  gaze  from 
Washington  to  Westminster.     There  is  something  al- 
most pathetic  in  the  anxiety  of  our  Canadian  fellow 
subjects  to  emphasize  their  loyalty  to  the  Empire.    No 
one  does  them  the  injustice  to  believe  that  they  really 
were  swept  off  their  feet  by  any  passionate  feeling 
against  the  Boers  when  they  sent  their  contingents  to 
I  assist  the  Mother  Country  in  South  Africa.   They  had 
j  been  waiting  for  their  chance  to  demonstrate  their  af- 
!  fection,  and  they  seized  it,  not  caring  very  much  about 
the  merits  of  the  quarrel  in  which  engaged. 

Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  it  is  true,  made  eloquent 
speeches,  putting  the  best  face  upon  the  cause  in  which 
Canadian  blood  had  been  shed,  but  in  order  to  do  so 
he  found  it  necessary  to  make  protestations  as  to  the 

95 


Will  Canada  Resist  Americanization 

liberties  and  privileges  to  be  extended  to  the  Boers,  the 
realization  of  which  has  been  postponed  to  the  Greek 
Kalends.  All  that  they  knew,  or  cared  to  know,  was 
that  England,  Mother  England,  was  calling  for  their 
help.  So  for  England,  Mother  England,  they  poured 
in  thousands  to  South  Africa,  where  they  shed  their 
blood  without  stint  in  defence  of  the  flag.  Last 
autumn  they  gave  the  Heir  to  the  Throne  and  his  wife 
a  welcome  as  enthusiastic  as  that  which  they  received  in 
Australia. 

More  than  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  say.  Surely 
then  Canada  is  in  no  danger  of  succumbing  to  the 
Americanization  which  is  sweeping  everything  into 
the  arms  of  the  United  States.  The  same  spirit  of 
loyalty  led  the  Canadian  Parliament  to  take  the  initi- 
ative in  establishing  the  principle  of  preferential  terms 
for  British  goods.  They  could  only  do  this  by  a  side- 
wind, as  it  were,  offering  a  reduction  of  from  25  to  30: 
per  cent,  upon  imports  from  countries  which  did  not 
tax  Canadian  goods — a  provision  which  had  the  prac-< 
tical  result  of  reducing  the  import  duty  on  British 
goods  from  25  to  30  per  cent,  below  that  levied  upon 
goods  imported  from  the  United  States. 

At  the  same  time,  the  majority  of  American  imports 
come  in  free,  so  that  if  an  average  is  taken  on  all  the: 
goods  imported  from  the  United  States  and  on  those 
imported  from  the  United  Kingdom,  the  average  tax 
is  still  somewhat  higher  on  British  goods  than  on 
American.  The  Canadians,  however,  did  their  best, 
and  have  borne  submissively  their  exclusion  by  Ger- 
many from  the  most-favored-nation  treatment  as  the 

96 


Binding  Forces 

penalty  of  their  attempt  to  draw  closer  the  ties  which 
link  them  to  Great  Britain. 

Down  to  the  year  1887  there  was  a  Secession  Party 
in  Nova  Scotia ;  but  since  then  there  has  been  no  party 
in  any  province  of  the  Dominion  that  has  advocated 
annexation  to  the  United  States.  Here  and  there  there 
are  annexationists,  and  those  who  are  in  favor  of 
Canadian  independence  are  even  more  numerous.  But, 
taking  it  as  a  whole,  Canadians  are  passionately  loyal 
to  the  old  flag,  and  I  think  it  is  extremely  probable 
that  there  is  no  part  of  the  King's  dominions  in  which 
this  book  will  be  read  with  more  profound  disap- 
proval— I  might  even  say  indignation — than  in  the 
Dominion  of  Canada. 

Nevertheless,  this  loyalty,  although  very  vehement 
and  very  sincere,  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  suf- 
ficient barrier  against  the  all-pervading  American- 
ism, Avhich  will  inevitably  bring  the  Dominion  and  the 
Republic  into  a  much  closer  union  than  that  which  at 
present  exists. 

The  first  great  force  which  operates  with  increasing 
potency  is  economic.  Despite  all  the  efforts  of  the 
Laurier  Cabinet  to  encourage  British  trade  at  the  ex- 
pense of  America,  Canada  remains  the  best  market  of 
the  United  States.  Every  Canadian,  man,  woman,  or 
child,  spends  on  an  average  £5  a  year  in  the  pur- 
chase of  American  goods.  The  German  average  is 
about  a  guinea  a  head,  while  the  average  sale  of  Ameri- 
can goods  in  Great  Britain  is  below  75.  a  head. 

Two-thirds  of  the  American  goods  purchased  By 
Canadians  consist  of  American  manufactures.  The 

97 


Trade  with  Canada 

total  value  of  American  imports  into  Canada  amounted 
to  £22,000,000  sterling.  Not  only  is  it  large  in  itself, 
but  it  is  increasing.  In  1875,  of  all  Canada's  pur- 
chases abroad,  50  per  cent,  came  from  Great  Britain. 
As  this  percentage  began  to  drop,  the  experiment  of 
the  preferential  duty  was  tried,  but  failed  to  arrest  the 
decrease.  In  1897  the  proportion  of  British  imports 
had  dropped  to  26  per  cent.,  and  in  1900  to  25  per 
cent.  In  1875  the  United  States  sold  to  Canada  42 
per  cent,  of  her  total  imports ;  in  1897  this  had  risen 
to  55  per  cent.,  and  in  1900  to  over  60  per  cent.  The 
United  States,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  prefer- 
ential duty,  has  more  than  taken  the  position  which 
we  occupied  with  the  Canadian  purchaser  in  1875. 

It  was  inevitable  that  this  should  be  so.  The  United 
States  is  close  at  hand ;  the  Canadians  are  American 
in  their  tastes,  and  goods  prepared  for  the  American 
market  find  a  ready  sale  across  the  frontier.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  in  view  of  all  that  is  being  talked 
to-day  about  the  value  of  the  Central  and  South  Ameri- 
can markets,  that  the  Canadians,  who  are  only  5,500,- 
ooo  in  number,  buy  more  goods  from  the  United  States 
than  are  purchased  by  all  the  inhabitants  of  all  the 
Central  and  South  American  Republics  that  are  to  be 
found  between  the  Rio  Grande  and  Cape  Horn.  The 
bulk  of  the  Canadian  exports  to  the  United  States 
consists  of  raw  materials,  lumber,  and  the  like,  in  re- 
turn for  which  she  takes  the  goods  manufactured  in 
American  mills  and  factories. 

The  Americans  are  keenly  alive  to  the  importance 
of  developing  this  trade,  and  one  of  the  first  deputa- 
98 


Canada's  Attitude 

tions  which  President  Roosevelt  had  to  receive  was 
that  organized  by  the  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  favor  of  reciprocity  with  Canada.  What  the  Bos- 
ton business  men  fear  is  that  unless  something  is  done 
in  the  way  of  reducing  American  taxes  on  Canadian 
imports  the  Canadian  will  either  increase  the  duties 
upon  American  goods,  or  redouble  their  efforts  to  in- 
duce Great  Britain  to  adopt  the  principle  of  a  prefer- 
ential tariff  in  favor  of  Colonial  and  against  foreign 
and  American  goods.  The  only  three  interests  in  the 
United  States  that  appear  to  be  offering  any  serious 
opposition  are  the  lumber  interests  of  the  North- 
west, the  bituminous  coal  miners  of  Maryland  and 
West  Virginia,  and  the  fishermen  of  Gloucester. 

President  Roosevelt  returned  a  sympathetic  but  non- 
committal answer  to  the  deputation. 

The  Canadians,  apparently,  have  grown  tired  of  ex- 
pecting any  concessions  from  the  United  States.  Sir 
Wilfrid  Laurier  last  autumn  made  a  definite  declara- 
tion that  the  Canadian  tariff  was  to  remain  as  it  was, 
and  that  any  overtures  on  the  subject  of  reciprocity 
would  have  to  be  made  from  Washington  to  Ottawa, 
and  not  from  Ottawa  to  Washington.  The  slump  in 
Protection,  so  long  foreseen,  is  no  doubt  on  its  way, 
but  for  the  moment  it  tarries. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  Irish  element  in 
Canada  is  very  strong,  how  strong  may  be  inferred 
from  two  facts.  In  1887,  when  Mr.  Balfour  intro- 
duced his  Coercion  Bill  for  Ireland,  the  Canadian 
Parliament,  despite  the  strongest  opposition  from  the 
Canadian  Conservative  Ministry  then  in  power,  passed 

99 


The  Bond  of  Immigration 

a  resolution  by  a  majority  of  nearly  four  to  one 
strongly  condemning  the  Irish  policy  of  Mr.  Bal- 
four,  and  affirming  their  devotion  to  Home  Rule. 
That  the  Canadians  have  not  changed  in  their  senti- 
ment may  be  inferred1  from  the  second  fact  that  when 
Mr.  John  Redmond  visited  Canada  in  1901,  Sir  Wil- 
frid Laurier  and  other  Ministers  were  present  at  a 
banquet,  by  which  the  Irish  Nationalist  leader  was 
welcomed  into  the  Dominion.  Sir  Wilfrid's  presence 
gave  great  scandal  to  our  Unionists  at  home,  who  pro- 
fess to  be  utterly  unable  to  reconcile  his  support  of 
Mr.  Redmond  and  of  Home  Rule  with  his  devotion  to 
the  Empire.  In  reality  if  they  but  opened  their  eyes, 
they  would  see  that  the  two  things  are  inseparably  con- 
nected. 

The  interchange  of  commodities  between  two  com- 
munities speaking  the  same  language,  and  living  on 
either  side  of  an  imaginary  line,  is  only  one  of  the 
economic  forces  that  would  make  for  Union.  For 
many  years  past  there  has  been  a  steady  stream  of 
immigration  from  Canada  to  the  United  States.  There 
are  very  few  Canadian  families  who  have  not  one  or 
more  relatives  who  have  gone  to  seek  their  fortunes 
in  the  great  American  cities,  or  on  the  fertile  prairies 
of  the  United  States.  There  are  more  emigrants  from 
Canada  in  the  United  States  in  proportion  to  their  pop- 
ulation than  from  any  other  country.  The  richer  and 
more  developed  lands  to  the  south  have  an  irresistible 
attraction  for  the  more  enterprising  and  ambitious 
Canadians. 

When   Mr.   Dryden,  the  Minister  for  Agriculture 

too 


Americanization  of  Canada 

in  Ontario,  invested  his  money  in  farming  he  put  it  into 
a  ranch  in  Dakota.  Of  late  years  a  growing  ten- 
dency has  been  observable  for  the  tide  of  immigration 
to  flow  the  other  way.  In :  the  Northwest,  there  are 
still  vast  areas  of  good  land  to  be 'had  for  nsxt'to  noth- 
ing. An  American  waiter  declares /chat;  the,  .interna- 
tional line  marks  as  sharp  a  distinction  in  land  values 
as  it  does  in  political  allegiance.  Naturally  as  the 
land  to  the  south  fills  up  settlers  will  cross  the  frontier, 
and  the  process  of  colonization  from  the  States  will 
steadily  Americanize  the  Northwest. 

There  is  little  or  no  difference  in  the  social  and  po- 
litical conditions  of  the  settlers,  so  it  is  as  natural  for 
them  to  cross  and  recross  the  frontier  as  it  is  for  people 
in  Sussex  .to  cross  into  Hampshire,  or  vice-versa. 
Thus  there  are  being  woven  across  and  across,  from 
side  to  side  of  the  invisible  frontier  line,  ties  which 
tend  to  weave  the  two  communities  into  one. 

In  addition  to  the  influence  of  commerce  and  of  emi- 
gration there  is  another  force  which  may  be  still  more 
potent.  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  great  American 
capitalists,  ever  on  the  look-out  for  fresh  fields  in  which 
to  invest  their  millions,  have  begun  to  develop  on  a 
great  scale  the  immense  mineral  resources  which  are 
as  yet  practically  untapped  in  the  Canadian  Dominion. 
American  capital  is  pouring  into  the  country.  Few 
things  have  attracted  more  attention  in  recent  indus- 
trial development  than  the  extent  to  which  American 
capitalists  are  investing  their  money  in  the  exploitation 
of  the  immense  and  almost  virgin  resources  of  Canada. 

The  industrial  annexation  of  the  Dominion  is  in 

JOJ 


Americanization  of  Canada 

full  swing.  The  Vanderbilt  railway  combination  has 
taken  in  hand  the  development  of  the  enormous  coal 
and  iron  district  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  is  proceeding  in 
the  campaign  with  that  combination  of  restless  energy 
and  methodical  prepitaHori  that  characterizes  the  great 
American  Trusts.  ^Further'  west,  the  Dominion  Iron 
and  £xf-?.?r  Company-. '  ur(der  an  American  President, 
with  a  capital  of  over  twenty  million  dollars,  has  es- 
tablished one  of  the  most  gigantic  steel  works  in  the 
world  at  Sault  St.  Marie  on  Lake  Superior.  In  this 
exploitation  of  Canadian  resources  by  American  capi- 
tal, the  Parliament  of  the  Dominion  has  interested  it- 
self actively.  A  land  grant  of  over  five  million  acres, 
a  subsidy  of  £200,000  for  real  construction,  and  con- 
tracts for  a  million  pounds'  worth  of  rails  to  be  deliv- 
ered in  the  next  five  years,  have  given  the  Company 
confidence.  It  is  going  ahead.  Americans  are  set- 
ting the  pace  in  the  Dominion. 

Rumors  from  time  to  time  appear  in  the  newspapers 
that  this  or  the  other  combination  of  American  mil- 
lionaires has  decided  to  acquire  a  controlling  inter- 
est in  Canada's  one  great  railway,  the  Canadian  Pa- 
cific ;  but  although  these  remain  rumors  there  is  every 
reason  to  expect  that  the  men  who  have  engineered 
the  great  combinations  which  exist,  in  order  to  bar 
out  competition,  will  not  long  abstain  from  an  at- 
tempt to  control  the  great  inter-oceanic  railway  by 
which  the  Canadians  have  linked  together  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific. 

But  dismissing  this  as  a  mere  possibility  of  the  fu- 
ture, we  have  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that  Ameri- 
J02 


Annexation  of  Canada 

can  capital  is  ever  tending  to  acquire  more  and  more 
interest  in  the  development  of  Canadian  resources. 
Commerce,  emigration,  and  investments  all  tell  in  the 
same  direction  with  an  automatic  and  persistent  force 
which  is  not  materially  affected  by  political  agitation. 
Sir  Hiram  Maxim  told  me  the  other  day  that,  when  he 
was  last  in  Canada,  he  had  been  approached  by  some 
owners  of  valuable  deposits  and  water  privileges  to 
assist  them  in  placing  their  property  upon  the  British 
market.  They  expatiated  upon  the  intrinsic  value  of 
the  property  which  they  had  to  dispose  of,  and,  finally, 
by  way  of  a  crowning  inducement,  they  said  to  him : 

"This  property  is  worth  two  hundred  million  dollars, 
but  when  annexation  comes  it  will  be  worth  two  hun- 
dred million  pounds  sterling." 

"What,"  said  Sir  Hiram,  "I  thought  you  were  all 
enthusiastic  loyalists." 

'"We  are  loyal  to  the  Empire,"  was  the  reply,  "but 
we  all  know  that  annexation  will  come  some  day,  and, 
when  it  comes,  it  will  much  more  than  double  the  value 
of  our  property." 

We  now  pass  to  consider  the  influences,  partly 
economic  and  partly  political,  which  point  in  the 
same  direction.  There  are  at  least  two — one  at  each 
extremity  of  the  Dominion.  The  first  is  the  long- 
standing and  almost  insoluble  dispute  about  the  fish- 
eries on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  quarrels  between 
the  fishermen  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  fishermen  of 
Massachusetts  have  been  for  many  years  a  fertile 
source  of  friction. 

The    Canadians   bitterly   resent   any   poaching   by 

J03 


International  Discords 

American  fishermen  in  Canadian  waters.  Collisions 
between  the  Canadian  and  New  England  fishermen 
have  created  so  much  ill-feeling  in  the  past  that  the 
fishery  dispute  has  been  one  of  the  standing  dishes  at 
every  Anglo-Amerkan  repast.  For  some  years  now  a 
modus  vivendi  has  been  in  existence,  which  avoids  any 
of  the  old  irritating  incidents  of  the  capture  and  con- 
fiscation of  American  ships  within  the  three-mile  limit ; 
but  the  difficulty  is  not  settled.  It  has  only  been  post- 
poned. 

So  acute  was  the  trouble  at  one  time  that  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Atkinson,  in  1887,  brought  forward  before  the 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  a  proposal  that  the 
United  States  should  purchase  from  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince 
Edward  Island,  for  the  sum  of  £10,000,000,  which  he 
estimated  was  about  the  share  in  the  Canadian  debt 
for  which  these  provinces  were  responsible.  The  sug- 
gestion came  to  nothing,  but  that  it  was  made  is  sig- 
nificant. It  shows  that  the  Americans  who  bought 
Alaska  from  Russia  are  quite  capable  of  attempting 
to  settle  other  territorial  difficulties  in  the  same  com- 
mercial fashion. 

The  other  difficulty  resulted  from  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  the  Klondyke.  The  Canadians  naturally 
wished  to  have  access  to  their  gold-fields  without  pass- 
ing through  an  American  Custom  House.  The  Amer- 
icans, on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that  until  gold 
was  discovered  the  Canadians  themselves  recognized 
that  Skaguay,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  ocean 
gate  of  the  Klondyke,  was  part  and  parcel  of  the 
J04 


Nation  Within  Nation 

United  States,  and  they  resent  the  attempt  of  Canada 
to  possess  herself  of  an  open  door  to  the  sea  as  an  in- 
fraction of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  an  attempt  to 
aggrandize  the  British  Empire  at  the  cost  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic. 

The  proposal  to  settle  this  dispute  by  arbitration 
miscarried,  owing  to  the  short-sighted  objection  taken 
by  our  Foreign  Office  to  the  American  proposition  that 
in  such  arbitration  the  umpire  should  be  chosen  from 
the  New  World,  which  means  that  he  should  be  either 
a  Central  American  or  a  South  American.  The  pro- 
posal was  one  which  told  altogether  against  the 
United  States,  for  the  natural  bias  of  the  Spanish 
Americans  is  by  no  means  in  favor  of  the  United 
States.  The  proposal,  however,  dropped  through,  and 
the  Skaguay  question  remains  among  those  unsettled 
questions  which  have  small  regard  for  the  peace  of 
nations. 

In  considering  the  probable  future  of  Canada  one 
salient  fact  can  never  be  overlooked.  Canada  is  not  a 
homogeneous  English-speaking  community.  The 
province  of  Quebec  is  essentially  French  in  speech, 
Catholic  in  religion,  and  although  loyal  to  the  Empire 
this  loyalty  is  the  result  of  the  Liberal  policy  adopted 
as  the  result  of  Lord  Durham's  mission,  yet  it  jeal- 
ously preserves  its  essential  French  nationality.  It  is 
indeed  a  foreign  nation  within  a  British  Dominion,  and 
its  existence  materially  complicates  the  question  under 
consideration.  As  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  said,  "When 
there  is  a  solid  mass  of  people  of  one  race  inhabiting 
a  compact  territory,  with  a  language,  religion,  charac- 

105 


Internal  Danger 

ter,  laws,  tendencies,  aspirations  and  sentiments  of  its 
own,  there  is  de  facto  a  nation." 

But  the  curious  thing-  is  that  authorities,  both  Cana- 
dian and  American,  differ  hopelessly  as  to  whether  the 
existence  of  this  French  nation  will  tend  to  accelerate 
or  retard  the  union  of  Canada  and  the  United  States. 
When  the  Duke  of  Argyle  returned  from  Canada  after 
serving  his  term  as  Governor-General,  he  told  me  that 
he  regarded  the  French-Canadians  as  one  of  the  great 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  annexation.  The  French 
priests  had  got  everything  the  way  they  wanted  it  in 
Quebec,  they  could  not  possibly  improve  their  posi- 
tion, and  might  easily  mar  it  if  they  exchanged  the 
Union  Jack  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Further,  they 
could  not  hinder  a  great  and  continuous  emigration  of 
their  young  people  to  the  mills  of  New  England, 
though  they  regarded  such  an  exodus  with  profound 
uneasiness. 

The  French  habitant  once  settled  in  New  Zealand 
was  exposed  to  the  taint  of  heresy.  Even  if  he  pre- 
served the  faith  he  became  lax  and  was  no  longer  as 
strict  in  the  observance  of  his  religious  duties  as  he 
was  in  the  old  home  of  his  childhood.  They  did  not 
become  Protestant  so  much  as  indifferent  or  freethink- 
ers. Thus,  in  the  opinion  of  this  excellent  authority, 
the  ultramontane  ascendency  which  prevailed  in  Que- 
bec indirectly  operated  as  a  powerful  bulwark  of  Brit- 
ish Dominion. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  very  element  appears  to 
some  stout  Imperialists  as  one  of  the  rrreatest  dangers 
confronting  us  in  the  future.  Mr.  T.  W.  Russell  some 

(06 


Quebec 

eight  or  nine  years  ago  visited  Canada,  and  came  back 
filled  with  horror  at  the  state  of  things  in  Quebec.  Mr. 
Russell  is  an  Ulster  Protestant,  and  it  is  evident  from 
his  report  that  he  regarded  the  state  of  things  which 
prevailed  in  Quebec  as  a  disgrace  to  the  Dominion. 
"Quebec,"  he  said,  "was  controlled  by  a  rich,  arrogant 
and  powerful  church.  Cardinal  Taschereau  was  in- 
finitely more  powerful  than  the  Prime  Minister  and 
his  Cabinet,  and  the  British  element  was  being 
squeezed  out  although  the  Englishry  paid  five-sixths  of 
the  taxation." 

Mr.  Russell  did  not  on  that  account  propose  to  ex- 
pel French  Canada  from  the  Dominion,  but  the  senti- 
ments which  he  expressed  represent  probably  with  only 
too  much  fidelity  the  conviction  of  the  majority  of 
fervent  Protestants  in  Ontario,  and  reveal  a  snag  upon 
which  the  Dominion  might  be  wrecked.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  dominant  idea  of  Lord  Durham  in  pro- 
posing his  scheme  of  settlement  was  that  it  would  be 
possible  gradually  but  steadily  to  convert  French  Can- 
ada to  the  universal  use  of  the  English  language.  His 
scheme  produced  political  contentment  largely  because 
it  failed  utterly  to  realize  his  hope  about  the  language. 
Any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  French  language 
or  impose  secular  education  upon  the  French  Cath- 
olics would  produce  an  agitation  which  in  the  opinion 
of  many  competent  judges  would  have  as  its  effect 
the  annexation  of  French  Canada  to  the  United  States. 

There  are  some  who  advocate  annexation  on  the 
ground  that  the  French  are  too  large  and  too  compact 
a  mass  of  non-English-speaking  men  to  be  assimilated 

J07 


A  Dish  for  Uncle  Sam 

or  absorbed  by  so  small  a  community  as  that  which  in- 
habits the  Canadian  Dominion.  If  they  were  cast  into 
the  Continental  crucible  of  the  United  States,  instead 
of  being  a  separate  nationality  the  cultivation  of 
French  would  be  a  rftere  local  peculiarity  of  no  more 
importance  than  the  obstinacy  with  which  some  Ger- 
man and  Norwegian  colonists  in  Minnesota  persist  in 
refusing  to  use  the  English  tongue.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  those  who  argue  from  a  precisely  op- 
posite point  of  view  and  maintain  that  the  United 
States  carries  already  as  many  foreign  elements  as  are 
compatible  with  the  maintenance  of  the  English-speak- 
ing character  of  its  people,  and  they  object  strongly  to 
add  a  clotted  mass  of  a  couple  of  millions  of  French 
habitants  to  the  other  indigestible  lumps  with  which 
the  digestion  of  Uncle  Sam  has  to  grapple.  In  the 
midst  of  all  this  conflict  and  confusion  of  even  expert 
opinion  it  seems  to  be  tolerably  clear  that,  whether  the 
priests  like  it  or  not,  the  industrial  districts  of  New 
England  continue  to  draw  like  a  great  lodestone  the 
more  adventurous  and  enterprising  youth  of  French 
Canada  across  the  frontier. 

Recognizing  this  as  inevitable,  the  hierarchy  have 
made  more  than  adequate  arrangements  for  the  spir- 
itual supervision  of  their  migrating  flock.  The  net  re- 
sult is  that  French  Canada  is  no  longer  confined  to  the 
districts  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  If  an  ethnograph- 
ical map  of  the  North  Eastern  States  were  to  be  pub- 
lished it  would  appear  that  Boston  has  almost  as  much 
claim  to  be  considered  a  French  city  as  Quebec  and 
Montreal. 
{08 


Religious  and  Racial 

The  question  as  to  the  effect  which  the  participation 
of  Canada  in  the  South  African  War  is  likely  to  have 
upon  the  loyalty  of  the  French  Canadians  is  a  matter 
that  has  been  a  good  deal  discussed.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  the  first  time  Canada  sent  her  sons  to  fight  in 
an  Imperial  quarrel  it  was  the  Protestants  who  were 
enthusiastic,  while  the  Catholics  hung  back,  although 
the  war  was  one  not  with  a  Catholic  but  with  a  Prot- 
estant people. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Bourinot  strongly  opposed  the  war,  but 
found  himself  in  a  small  minority,  owing  to  the  as- 
cendancy of  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier.  He  expressed  a 
very  strong  conviction  as  to  the  grave  peril  to  the  Em- 
pire which  was  created  by  putting  this  new  strain  upon 
the  loyalty  of  the  French  Canadians.  The  Boer  War 
did  not  interest  them  on  either  side,  but  they  dreaded 
the  precedent.  If  Canada  could  be  dragged  into  an 
English  war  with  the  Boers,  how  could  they  hope  to 
escape  the  still  more  urgent  appeal  which  would  reach 
them  if  Great  Britain  were  to  be  involved  in  a  war 
with  France?  In  such  a  case  the  French  Canadian 
would  find  himself  in  exactly  the  same  position  as  the 
Cape  Dutch  find  themselves  to-day,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  they  shrank  from  being  committed  to  any 
close  co-operation  with  the  Imperial  arms.  Even  be- 
fore the  Boer  War  arose  to  alarm  French  Canadian 
susceptibilities,  one  well-known  French  Canadian,  M. 
Louis  Frechette,  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  Domin- 
ion Parliament  and  a  well-known  Canadian  poet, 
published  an  article  which  was  almost  a  manifesto, 


J09 


The  Virtue  of  Annexation 

under  the  title  of  "The  United  States  for  French 
Canadians." 

According  to  M.  Frechette,  French  Canadians  re- 
garded Imperial  Federation  with  unfeigned  alarm. 
In  an  Imperial  Parliament  they  would  find  themselves 
in  a  hopeless  minority,  in  face  of  a  majority  inevitably 
hostile.  He  continued  : — "The  idea  of  Annexation  has 
during  the  last  few  years  made  rapid  progress  with 
Canadians  of  French  origin ;  the  fact  is  that  even  to- 
day, were  they  consulted  on  the  question  under  con- 
ditions of  absolute  freedom,  without  any  moral  pressure 
from  either  side,  I  am  certain  that  a  considerable  ma- 
jority of  Annexationists  would  result  from  the  ballot. 
And  this  majority  cannot  but  increase  ....  Al- 
liance with  the  States  of  the  Union  would  with  one 
sweep  of  the  pen  settle  all  those  thorny  questions  which 
now  embarrass  us.  At  one  stroke  ....  we 
should  have  no  more  hatred  or  rivalry  of  faith  or  race ; 
no  longer  conquerors  ever  looking  upon  us  as  the  con- 
quered; no  longer  any  joint  responsibility  with  any 
European  nation ;  no  longer  any  frontiers ;  no  longer 
any  possible  wars ;  a  single  flag  over  the  whole  of 
North  America,  which  then  would  be,  not  the  hold- 
ing of  any  particular  nation,  but  the  home  of  Human- 
ity itself,  the  Empire  of  Peace,  the  richest  and  most 
powerful  dominion  of  the  earth,  under  a  democratic 
government." 

That  the  Canadians,  French  and  English  alike,  are 
loyal  is  the  fortunate  result  of  the  common  sense  and 
resolution  of  our  Whig  statesmen  who,  by  the  display 
of  those  qualities  of  statesmanship  which  have  been  so 

no 


Canada  a  Nation 

conspicuously  lacking  in  South  Africa,  converted  a 
French-speaking  Roman  Catholic  province,  steeped  in 
sedition  and  seething  with  rebellious  discontent,  into 
one  of  the  most  devoted  Colonies  of  the  Empire.  The 
secret  is  simple.  We  left  them  alone,  allowing  them  to 
do  for  themselves  as  they  thought  best.  But  even  now 
the  appointment  of  such  a  Governor-General  as  Lord 
Milner  would  drive  the  whole  of  Quebec  wild  with 
alarm  and  suspicion.  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  the  Liberal 
Prime  Minister  of  the  Dominion,  has  never  lost  a 
chance  of  emphasizing  the  fact  that  Canada  is  not  only 
a  Colony  and  a  Dominion  ;  Canada,  he  says,  is  a  nation, 
and,  as  such,  claims  the  rights  of  nationhood. 

How  sensitive  and  easily  jarred  are  the  nerves  of 
our  Canadian  fellow-subjects  may  be  seen  from  the 
storm  of  dissatisfaction  which  has  been  occasioned  by 
the  disrespect  shown  to  the  French  language  by  the 
Duke  of  Cornwall,  who,  of  course,  acted  on  the  advice 
of  Lord  Minto.  Why  the  genius  of  discord  should 
have  been  allowed  to  mar  the  loyal  festivals  that  at- 
tended the  Royal  tour  no  one  but  the  Governor-General 
can  tell.  But  the  refusal  to  allow  the  Heir  to  the  Crown 
to  reply  in  French  to  loyal  French  addresses  seems  to 
savor  of  the  arrogant  and  intolerant  spirit  which  has 
of  late  poisoned  the  atmosphere  of  the  Colonial  Office. 
Taken  together  with  other  incidents,  some  of  which 
were  perhaps  unavoidable,  this  slight  to  their  lan- 
guage has  led  to  protests  which  somewhat  beclouded 
the  closing  scene  of  the  Royal  tour.  The  Canadians 
are  very  loyal,  but  we  cannot  presume  upon  their  loy- 
alty. As  the  Avenir  du  Nord,  an  influential  organ  of 

ffl 


Absorption  Inevitable 

the  French  at  Montreal,  took  occasion  to  remind  the 
Duke  :— 

"  The  French  and  English  people  of  Canada  greet  in  the 
Duke  of  Cornwall  and'«York  the  son  of  their  sovereign,  but 
do  not  intend  thereby  to  furnish  the  Imperialists  with  the 
illusion  that  Canada  aspires  to  be  stifled  by  tighter  and 
tighter  British  ties.  The  respect  that  we  profess  in  a  large 
measure,  the  marks  of  sympathy  that  we  manifest — even  in 
a  too  exaggerated  manner — for  the  King  of  England  and  his 
son,  will  be  changed  into  enmity  and  energetic  struggle  if 
ever  it  is  sought  to  erase  from  our  Constitution  the  clauses 
that  make  us  almost  independent,  with  a  view  to  replace  them 
by  Imperialistic  obligations  such  as  are  dreamed  of  by  Mr. 
Chamberlain  and  a  few  others." 

This  may  be  dismissed  as  worthy  of  no  importance 
because  it  is  only  French  talk.  So  our  loyalists  at  the 
Cape  ignored  the  protests  and  complaints  of  the 
Dutch.  Absit  omen. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  French  Canadians  may  be 
very  enthusiastic  to  be  annexed,  but  that  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  would  be  much  less  eager  to  welcome 
Canada  within  the  pale  of  the  Union.  What  Americans 
think  on  the  question  of  the  future  of  Canada  is  not 
difficult  to  discern.  One  and  all  would  disclaim  any 
attempt  to  annex  Canada  against  her  will ;  but  one  and 
all  regard  her  absorption  as  her  inevitable  destiny,  and 
while  they  would  not  hasten  the  hour  when  the  fron- 
tier-line disappears  they  would  rejoice  to  see  the  Union 
Jack  disappear  from  the  Western  Continent. 

President  Roosevelt's  words  are  worth  quoting  in 
this  connection.  Before  he  was  President  or  even 
Vice-President,  he  wrote : — "The  inhabitants  of  a  col- 
ony are  in  a  cramped  and  unnatural  state 

iti 


President  Roosevelt's  Words 

As  long  as  a  Canadian  remains  a  colonist  he  remains 
in  a  position  inferior  to  that  of  his  cousins  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States.  The  Englishman 
at  bottom  looks  down  on  the  Canadian,  as  on  one  who 
admits  his  inferiority,  and  quite  properly,  too.  The 
American  regards  the  Canadian  with  the  good-natured 
condescension  felt  by  the  freeman  for  a  man  who  is 
not  free. 

"Every  true  patriot,  every  man  of  statesman-like 
habit,  should  look  forward  to  the  day  when  not  a  sin- 
gle European  Power  will  hold  a  foot  of  American  soil. 
At  present  it  is  not  necessary  to  take  the  position  that 
no  European  Power  shall  hold  American  territory; 
but  it  certainly  will  become  necessary  if  the  timid  and 
selfish  peace-at-any-price  men  have  their  way,  and  if 
the  United  States  fails  to  check,  at  the  outset,  Euro- 
pean aggrandizement  on  this  continent." 

But  it  will  be  said  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  extreme  Expansionist  school.  It  may, 
therefore,  be  well  to  quote  the  testimony  of  one  who 
belongs  to  the  other  extreme.  With  the  doubtful  ex- 
ception of  Mr.  Atkinson,  there  is  probably  no  mor^ 
thorough-going  anti-Expansionist  than  Mr.  Andrew 
Carnegie.  No  one  can  accuse  him  of  animosity  to  the 
land  in  which  he  was  born,  and  in  which  he  spends 
his  summers.  He  passed  immune  through  the  Jingo 
fever  which  laid  so  many  of  his  compatriots  low.  But, 
upon  the  subject  of  Canada,  Mr.  Carnegie  expressed 
sentiments  even  more  uncompromising  than  those  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt 

In  the  year  1895,  when  tariff  questions  were  to  the 


Andrew  Carnegie's  Opinion 

fore,  Mr.  Carnegie  came  out  strongly  in  favor  of  im- 
posing heavy  duties  upon  all  imports  from  Canada 
without  regard  to  the  doctrine  either  of  Free  Trade  or 
Protection,  but  as  a  matter  of  high  politics. 

The  following  passage  is  a  very  significant  but  per- 
fectly frank  and  sincere  expression  of  the  sentiments 
of  a  great  number  of  the  friendliest  Americans  upon 
the  question  of  our  position  in  Canada : — "I  think  we 
betray  a  lack  of  statesmanship  in  allowing  commercial 
advantages  to  a  country  which  owes  allegiance  to  a 
foreign  Power  founded  upon  monarchical  institutions, 
which  may  always  be  trusted  at  heart  to  detest  the  re- 
publican idea.  If  Canada  were  free  and  independent, 
and  threw  in  her  lot  with  this  Continent,  it  would  be 
another  matter.  So  long  as  she  remains  upon  our 
flank,  a  possible  foe,  not  upon  her  own  account,  but 
subject  to  the  orders  of  a  European  Power,  and  ready 
to  be  called  by  that  Power  to  exert  her  forces  against 
us  even  upon  issues  that  may  not  concern  Canada,  I 
should  let  her  distinctly  understand  that  we  view  her 
as  a  menace  to  the  peace  and  security  of  our  country, 
and  I  should  treat  her  accordingly.  She  should  not  be 
in  the  Union  and  out  of  the  Union  at  the  same  time  if 
I  could  prevent  it.  Therefore,  I  should  tax  highly  all 
her  products  entering  the  United  States ;  and  this  I] 
should  do,  not  in  dislike  for  Canada,  but  for  love  ofj 
her,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  cause  her  to  realize  that! 
the  nations  upon  this  Continent  are  expected  to  be 
American  nations,  and  I  trust,  finally,  one  nation,  scM 
far  as  the  English-speaking  portion  is  concerned.  I 
should  use  the  rod,  not  in  anger,  but  in  love;  but  J. 


What  Canada  Offers 

should  use  it.  She  should  be  either  a  member  of  the 
Republic  or  she  should  stand  for  her  own  self,  re- 
sponsible for  her  conduct  in  peace  and  war,  and  she 
should  not  shield  herself  by  calling  to  her  aid  a  for- 
eign Power." 

I  have  quoted  the  opinions  of  President  Roosevelt 
and  Mr.  Carnegie.  To  them  I  would  add  a  third,  much 
less  distinguished,  but  not  less  typical  man,  Mr.  M. 
W.  Hazeltine,  discussing  in  1897  the  probable  policy 
>f  President  McKinley,  declaring  that  if  Mr.  McKin- 
ey  were  mindful  of  the  pledge,  embodied  in  the  plat- 
rorm  to  which  he  subscribed,  he  would  apply  his  in- 
fluence and  his  ability  in  all  lawful  ways  to  further  the 
movement  for  the  voluntary  incorporation  of  Canada 
with  the  Republic : — "He  may  not  hold  that  extension 
)f  territory  is  desirable  for  its  own  sake,  but  he  can- 
not but  recognize  that  in  the  case  of  Canada  there 
would  be  also  an  extension  of  market,  and  an  exten- 
sion of  the  field  of  American  investments  over  Cana- 
dian mines  and  enterprises.  Nor  can  he  shut  his  eyes 
to  the  fact — that  the  annexation  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  would  mean  the  final  exclusion  of  war,  witfy 
its  burdens  and  horrors,  from  this  Continent,  and 
the  secure  dedication  of  North  America  to  industry 
and  peace." 

Mr.  Hazeltine's  expectations  were  not  fulfilled. 
President  McKinley  did  nothing  to  promote  the  incor- 
poration of  Canada  with  the  United  States,  and  on  the 
whole  it  was  probably  just  as  well.  American  senti- 
ment was  slightly,  very  slightly,  ruffled  by  the  out- 
break of  Jingoism  across  the  border,  and  some  obser- 


Interests  Betrayed 

vations  were  let  fall  which  showed  that  American  opin- 
ion might  take  alarm  if  the  Dominion  were  to  be  per- 
manently inoculated  with  the  spirit  of  militant  Im- 
perialism. Of  that,  however,  there  is  little  danger. 
At  the  same  time  k  would  not  be  wise  to  ignore  the 
fact  that  with  Canada's  growing  sense  of  nation- 
hood, and  our  sense  of  the  obligations  under  which  we 
lie  to  the  Dominion  for  the  help  it  rendered  to  us  in 
the  South  African  war,  will  not  tend  altogether  to 
facilitate  the  negotiations  which  are  about  to  be  re- 
sumed for  the  settlement  of  the  few  outstanding  ques- 
tions which  still  remain  to  be  settled. 

The  permanent  factor  which  always  occasions  ir- 
ritation on  the  part  of  the  Americans  is  the  fact  that 
they  can  neither  deal  with  Canada  alone  nor  with 
Great  Britain  alone.  The  influence  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment is  almost  invariably  exercised  in  favor  of  a 
compromise.  The  Canadians  are,  however,  very  stiff 
at  a  bargain,  and  are  very  quick  to  declare  that  their 
interests  are  being  betrayed  by  the  Mother  Country  if 
we  do  not  back  them  up  to  the  uttermost  in  the  claim 
which  they  make  upon  the  American  Government. 

Americans,  it  may  be  quite  erroneously,  are  of  opin 
ion  that  if  Great  Britain  were  out  of  the  way  and  t 
had  to  deal  with  Canada  alone  they  would  very  soon 
come  to  terms,  but  they  resent  the  Spenlow  and  Jor 
kins  arrangement  by  which  one  of  the  partners  alway 
shelters  behind  the  other.  Canada,  however,  abso 
lutely  refuses  to  be  left  out  of  the  negotiations  of  ques 
tions  which  primarily  concern  her  own  interests.  Upon 


Great  Britain  Warned 

this  subject  Mr.  Carnegie,  writing  in  the  Contempo- 
rary Re-view,  in  November,  1897,  said : — 

"  Ambassador  Pauncefote  and  Secretary  of  State  Elaine, 
years  ago,  agreed  upon  a  settlement  of  the  Behring  Sea  ques- 
tion, and  Lord  Salisbury  telegraphed  his  congratulations, 
through  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  to  Mr.  Elaine.  The  two  na- 
tions were  jointly  to  police  the  seas  and  stop  the  barbarous  de- 
struction of  the  female  seals.  Canada  appeared  at  Washing- 
ton and  demanded  to  see  the  President  of  the  United  States 
upon  the  subject.  Audience  was  denied  to  the  presumptuous 
colony;  nevertheless,  her  action  forced  Lord  Salisbury  to  dis- 
avow the  treaty.  No  confidence  here  is  violated,  as  Presi- 
dent Harrison  referred  to  the  subject  in  a  message  to  Con- 
gress. Britain  was  informed  that  if  she  presumed  to  make 
treaties  in  which  Canada  was  interested  without  her  consent, 
she  would  not  have  Canada  very  long.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  Canada  took  precisely  the  same  position  in  re- 
gard to  international  copyright.  It  is  this  long-desired  treaty- 
making  power  which  Canada  has  recently  acquired  for  her- 
self, at  least  as  far  as  concerns  fiscal  policy,  so  that  she  need 
no  longer  even  consult  her  suzerain.  She  can  now  ap- 
pear at  Washington,  and  insist  upon  being  received  when 
new  tariff  measures  are  desired,  having  suddenly  become  a 
'  free  nation,'  according  to  her  Prime  Minister.  There  are 
surprises  in  store  here  for  the  indulgent  mother." 

Our  permanent  difficulty,  that  of  inducing  the  Cana- 
dians to  accept  what  we  consider  a  legitimate  compro- 
mise, but  what  they  are  apt  to  regard  as  an  indefensi- 
ble sacrifice  of  their  vital  interests,  will  certainly  not 
have  been  diminished  by  recent  events.  The  Canadians 
will  feel  and  say  that  they  did  not  storm  Paardeberg, 
in  order  that  Great  Britain  should  give  away  their 
right  to  Skaguay,  or  their  fishery  monopoly,  for  im- 
perial considerations  in  which  they  have  very  remote 
interest.  If  we  insist  they  will  sulk,  and  Mr.  Carne- 
gie's foreboding  prophecy  may  be  realized.  There 
will  be  no  rupture,  but  the  silken  tie  will  be  strained, 


Canada  at  a  Standstill 

and  in  proportion  as  it  is  weakened  the  pull  of  the  eco- 
nomic forces  making  for  union  will  be  increased. 

The  Canadians  are  at  present  smarting  under  a  se- 
vere disappointment^  The  party  in  power  after  having 
for  some  years  fostered  emigration  and  developed 
trade  relations  with  the  Mother  Country,  confidently 
expected  that  the  census  would  reveal  a  great  increase 
in  the  population.  In  1891  the  census  figures  were 
4,823,875.  In  1901  it  was  hoped  that  they  would  re- 
port a  population  of  6,000,000.  Imagine  the  dismay 
occasioned  by  the  return  of  only  5,338,833  residents  in 
the  Dominion.  The  whole  Dominion  in  ten  years  has 
only  added  to  its  population  about  the  same  number  of 
citizens  as  were  added  in  the  same  period  to  the  single 
State  of  Minnesota.  Of  the  513,000  added  to  the  pop- 
ulation of  Canada,  306,000  are  to  be  found  west  of  On- 
tario. The  population  of  Ontario  itself  is  virtually 
stationary,  an  increase  of  2  per  cent,  being  neither  here 
nor  there. 

Professor  Henry  Davies,  of  Yale  University,  re- 
cently summed  up  his  conclusions,  arrived  at  after  an 
interviewing  tour  in  the  Dominion,  as  follows : — 

"Much  of  Canada's  stagnation  is  due  to  the  in- 
.  ability  of  her  leading  men  to  see  that  the  great  assim- 
ilating power  on  this  hemisphere  is  American,  and  not 
English.  This  the  people  have  already  begun  to  learn. 
England  has  practically  capitulated,  so  far  as  Canada 
is  concerned,  as  recent  futile  parley  ings  have  shown. 
The  situation,  therefore,  wants  nothing  but  better  trade 
relations  with  this  country  to  perfect  conquest." 

What  is  to  be  hoped  for  is  that,  when  the  inevital 
US 


Canadian  Administration 

union  takes  place,  it  will  be  brought  about  with  the 
hearty  consent  and  concurrence  of  the  Mother  Coun- 
try, even  if  the  Mother  Country  herself  does  not  set 
the  example  to  Canada  in  taking  the  initiative  in  pro- 
moting that  race  alliance  towards  which  everything 
seems  to  point.  Should  such  a  union  take  place  it  is 
probable  there  would  be  considerable  simplification 
of  the  somewhat  complex  arrangements  now  existing 
in  the  Canadian  Dominion.  Decentralization  and 
Home  Rule  are  very  good  things,  but  they  may  be  car- 
ried too  far ;  and  eight  separate  Parliaments  with  eight 
separate  executives  seem  a  somewhat  excessive  allow- 
ance for  a  population  that  is  not  much  in  excess  of  the 
population  of  Greater  London. 

Although  both  the  American  and  Canadian  consti- 
tutions are  based  upon  the  federal  principle,  there  is 
considerable  difference  in  the  way  in  which  this  prin- 
ciple is  applied.  In  the  United  States  the  federal 
power  is  strictly  defined.  The  Congress  at  Washing- 
ton has  no  power  to  legislate  but  on  certain  specified 
subjects.  All  others  not  specially  reserved  for  the  cen- 
tral power  are  left  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the 
sovereign  will  of  each  of  the  federated  states.  In 
Canada  the  problem  is  approached  from  the  other  end. 
The  powers  of  the  provincial  parliaments  are  strictly 
defined,  while  the  undefined  residue  is  left  to  the  Par- 
liament of  the  Dominion. 

The  Canadian  judiciary  is  federal  throughout  the 
whole  Dominion,  and  the  judges  are  not  elective.  In 
the  United  States  the  judiciary  is  both  federal  and 
local,  and  the  local  judges  are  elected  by  popular  vote. 


Canadian  Administration 

Laws  of  banking,  of  commerce,  and  of  marriage  are 
federal  in  the  Dominion,  and  are  left  to  the  States  in 
the  Republic.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  amend  the 
American  Constitution,  whereas  the  Canadian  Consti- 
tution can  be  amended  wtihout  much  difficulty.  When 
there  is  a  dispute  between  the  local  authorities  or  be- 
tween the  provincial  governments  and  the  Federal 
Government,  there  is  an  appeal  in  the  last  instance  to 
the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  in  London. 
In  the  United  States  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washing- 
ton is  the  final  authority. 

In  many  respects  the  Canadian  administration,  es- 
pecially that  part  which  concerns  the  welfare  of  In- 
dians, compares  favorably  with  that  of  the  United 
States.  The  contrast  between  the  administration  of 
justice  in  mining  districts  in  Canada  and  in  the  United 
States  has  frequently  been  commented  upon  by  the 
Americans  themselves.  There  is  none  of  the  free 
shooting  in  the  Canadian  mining  camps  which  used 
to  be  so  characteristic  of  California.  The  same  men 
who  were  ready  to  shoot  at  sight  in  Colorado  no 
sooner  crossed  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude  than  they 
recognized  that  free  shooting  was  contrary  to  the  law 
of  the  land,  and  that  no  one  had  a  pull  which  was  good 
for  anything  with  the  Canadian  justices. 

These  questions  of  detail,  although  interesting  and 
important,  are  not  vital,  except  in  so  far  as  they  tend 
to  show  that  if  the  Dominion  and  the  Republic  are  ever] 
to  be  merged  in  one  greater  union,  both  parties  to  the] 
marriage  will  bring  an  ample  dower,  both  moral  and 
material  to  the  common  stock. 
120 


Canadian  Administration 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  Nemesis  which  follows 
the  South  African  war  may  tend  to  operate  against 
the  unity  of  the  Empire.  The  Canadians,  especially 
those  who  served  in  Strathcona's  Horse,  did  not  carry 
back  with  them  to  Canada  a  very  high  appreciation 
of  the  military  genius  of  the  British  officer  or  the  or- 
ganizing capacity  of  the  British  War  Office. 

Like  all  the  Colonials  engaged  in  this  war,  they  felt 
themselves  to  be  far  and  away  better  men  than  the 
Regulars  whom  they  were  sent  to  assist.  Some  of 
them  came  home  convinced  that  the  Boers  were  in  the 
right,  and  that  England  had  enlisted  their  services  in 
a  bad  cause.  They  said  nothing,  but  waited.  They 
are  waiting  still.  The  spectacle  which  the  British 
Army  offers  to  the  Empire  to-day  is  not  conducive  to 
the  development  of  Imperial  pride. 

The  Colonists  were  willing  enough  to  help  the 
Mother  Country  out  of  a  temporary  scrape,  it  being 
understood  that  the  said  Mother  Country  was  still  a 
going  concern,  that  dry  rot  had  not  sapped  her 
strength,  that  her  statesmen  were  not  dotards,  and  her 
administrators  amateur  dilettanti,  and  that,  in  short, 
there  was  honor  and  glory  in  being  connected  with 
what  was  believed  to  be  the  greatest,  the  wisest,  the 
strongest  of  the  Empires  of  the  world. 

But  with  the  whole  British  army  lying  foundered 
month  after  month  in  South  Africa,  what  are  they  to 
think  of  it?  Has  the  Mother  Country  then  become 
only  a  toothless  old  granddame,  whose  faculties  have 
all  gone  to  fat,  and  who  has  neither  the  wit  to  make 
peace  or  the  skill  to  make  war  ?  They  do  not  say  so  as 


The  Awakening 

yet,  nay,  they  are  even  preparing  to  send  out  another 
contingent  to  her  assistance,  but  some  such  conviction 
must  be  forcing  its  way  home  to  the  Colonial  mind. 
How  much  longer  is  it  to  last?  And  if  Britannia  is  in 
her  dotage,  if  her  people  are  decadent  and  a  piano  and 
cook-stove  mobility  is  all  that  her  officers  are  capable 
of,  then  how  long  will  it  be  before  the  cry  of  "To  your 
tents,  O  Israel,"  or  its  modern  equivalent,  "Hail  Co- 
lumbia," is  raised  in  the  Dominion  ? 

It  is  a  question  of  considerable  interest  just  now  to 
many  people  of  whom  President  Roosevelt  is  easily  the 
most  considerable. 


122 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Seventh 

Of  Australia 

ONE  of  the  great  events  of  the  past  twelve  months 
was  the  opening  of  the  first  Parliament  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Commonwealth  by  the  heir  to  the  British 
Crown.  The  event  was  held  with  immense  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  Empire,  as  a  public  ceremonial  demon- 
stration of  the  closeness  of  the  tie  which  binds  the 
island  continent  of  the  Southern  Seas  with  the  mother- 
land of  the  race. 

It  may  seem,  therefore,  singularly  out  of  place  to 
discuss  at  such  a  time  the  question  whether  even  at 
the  Antipodes  the  pull  of  the  American  Republic  will 
be  felt  by  the  Australian  Commonwealth.  It  must  be 
admitted,  of  course,  that  the  force  of  gravitation  di- 
minishes according  to  the  distance  at  which  it  is  exer- 
cised, and  Australia  is  by  no  means  subject  to  the  same 
continuous  temptation  to  throw  in  her  lot  with  the 
Americans  to  which  the  West  India  Islands  and  Can- 
ada are  subject. 

Nevertheless,  even  in  this  first  year  a  good  many 
things  have  happened  to  give  us  cause  to  think,  if 

J23 


The  Australian  Tariff 

not  furiously,  at  least  seriously;,  as  to  whether  the  net 
effect  of  the  Federation  of  the  Australian  Colonies  will 
tend  so  much  to  the  consolidation  of  the  Empire  as  we 
all  wish  to  believe. 

To  begin  with,  the  very  first  result  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Australian  Commonwealth  has  been  to 
put  up  a  tariff  wall  between  Great  Britain  and  the  in- 
dependent sister  nation  at  the  Antipodes  that  is  more 
of  a  barrier  than  a  bond  of  union. 

To  take  only  a  small  illustration  of  this.  The  Aus- 
tralasian Review  of  Reviews,  which  was  founded  in  the 
interests  of  the  Empire,  and  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting the  Union  of  the  English-speaking  peoples,  is 
an  off-shoot  of  the  parent  Review  of  Reviews.  At 
least  half  of  the  contents  of  each  number  is  printed 
from  proofs  sent  from  London.  The  immediate  ef- 
fect of  the  new  tariff  has  been  to  increase  the  cost  of 
the  production  of  the  Australasian  Review  of  Reviews. 
A  10  per  cent,  duty  has  been  imposed  upon  paper,  and 
25  per  cent,  upon  the  ink  with  which  it  is  printed. 

All  magazines  printed  in  the  Mother  Country  and 
exported  ready-made  to  Australia  must  pay  a  duty. 
It  is  a  very  small  matter,  but  it  illustrates  the  point 
that  the  new  order  of  things  at  the  Antipodes  has  had 
some  results  not  altogether  promoting  the  realization 
of  the  King's  ideal  that  Australia  should  be  regarded 
as  much  part  and  parcel  of  the  United  Kingdom  as 
Kent  or  Sussex.  In  framing  the  Australian  tariff,  the 
Government  refused  absolutely  to  follow  the  example 
of  Canada.  No  preference  whatever  has  been  allowed 
to  British  goods. 
124 


Unfilial  Jealousy 

The  Germans  and  the  Americans,  who  bear  none  of 
the  expense  and  undertake  none  of  the  responsibility 
for  defending  Australia,  are  as  free  to  send  in  their 
goods  as  the  British  tax-payer  who  has  to  bear  the 
whole  burden  of  Imperial  defence.  I  am  not  com- 
plaining of  this,  only  mentioning  it  as  an  indication 
that  the  Australian  Commonwealth  has  shown  no  sym- 
pathy with  those  Imperialists  who  think  that  the  unity 
of  the  Empire  can  best  be  attained  and  maintained  by 
an  Imperial  Zollverein. 

Not  only  have  the  Australians  imposed  new  taxes 
upon  British  goods,  but  their  attitude  on  the  question 
of  the  appeals  to  the  Privy  Council  showed  a  sensi- 
tive jealousy  in  relation  to  the  Mother  Country.  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  in  the  very  heyday  of  his  popularity, 
found  himself  pulled  up  sharply  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Australians  to  accept  any  settlement  of  the  question  of 
the  Court  of  final  appeal  except  the  one  which  they 
liked.  Right  or  wrong,  they  insisted  upon  having  their 
own  way,  and,  as  usual,  they  got  it. 

There  is  now  no  right  of  appeal  to  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil or  to  any  English  Court  for  the  decision  of  any 
questions  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
or  of  the  merits  of  conflicting  claims  of  the  separate 
States,  unless  the  Australian  High  Court  itself  should 
certify  that  the  question  should  be  determined  by  the 
Privy  Council.  At  the  same  time  any  appellant  can 
appeal  from  the  State  Court  direct  to  the  Privy 
Council,  without  going  through  the  Federal  High 
Court — a  provision  which  we  owe  to  the  wisdom  of 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  and  which  will  almost  certainly 

125 


Australian  Problems 

result  in  conflicting  decisions  upon  points  of  law.  In 
the  main,  however,  the  Australians  carried  their 
point,  and  barred  any  appeal  from  the  decision  of  their 
own  High  Court  excepting  by  permission  of  that  High 
Court  itself. 

A  third  point  which  is  worth  remembering  and  dis- 
cussing in  the  question  of  the  possible  merging  of 
Australia  into  the  greater  federation  of  all  the  English- 
speaking  peoples,  is  the  fact  that  in  framing  the  Aus- 
tralian Commonwealth  the  Australians  on  one  vital 
principle  elected  to  follow  the  example  of  the  United 
States  rather  than  that  of  the  Canadian  Dominion.  In 
Canada,  it  has  already  been  stated,  the  Canadians  de- 
fined the  powers  of  the  Provincial  Assemblies  and  left 
all  other  powers  to  the  Federal  Parliament.  In  Aus- 
tralia they  followed  the  American  precedent. 

As  Sir  John  Cockburn  told  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress  that  met  at  Philadelphia  in  October, 
1899,  the  United  States  Constitution  for  the  last  ten 
years  had  been  well-thumbed  and  well-read  in  the 
Australian  Colonies.  "Our  problem,"  he  said,  "has 
been  throughout  almost  identical  with  yours."  And  it 
is  not  surprising  that  he  should  go  on  to. say:  "In  the 
fundamental  characteristic  of  our  constitution  we  have 
followed  the  example  of  the  United  States,  and  have 
placed  only  enumerated  powers  in  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  authority,  reserving  all  unenumerated  powers 
for  the  State.  Our  cardinal  condition  is  that  only 
enumerated  powers  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  Federal 
authority." 

These   enumerated   powers   differ   somewhat   from 


Improving  the  Example 

those  of  the  United  States,  in  that  the  questions  of 
marriage  and  divorce  are  reserved  for  the  Federal 
Parliament,  whereas  in  America  each  State  has  its 
own  law  of  marriage  and  divorce.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  followed  the  American  example  in  calling  the 
two  Houses  of  the  Federal  Legislature,  the  Senate,  and 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  United  States,  each  State  enjoys  equally  inalien- 
able rights  of  representation  in  the  Senate,  no  matter 
whether  its  population  be  large  or  small,  and  no  mat- 
ter whether  its  area  be  extensive  or  limited.  They 
have,  however,  departed  from  the  American  precedent 
by  constituting  the  Senate  by  direct  election,  and  also 
by  making  it  easier  to  amend  the  Constitution. 

A  constitutional  amendment  in  Australia  must  first 
be  passed  by  an  absolute  majority  of  both  Houses  in 
the  Federal  Parliament,  or  by  one  House  on  two  oc- 
casions if  rejected  by  the  other.  The  amendment  has 
then  to  be  referred  to  the  people  of  the  several  States, 
and  a  double  majority  of  States  and  of  people  is  nec- 
essary before  the  amendment  takes  effect.  It  is  prob- 
able that  if  a  plebiscite  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  could  be  taken  to-day,  the  majority  would  de- 
clare in  favor  of  their  modifying  their  own  constitution. 
Except  these  three  points,  namely,  Federal  law  for 
marriage  and  divorce,  direct  election  of  Senators,  and 
greater  elasticity  in  readjusting  the  provisions  of  the 
altered  needs  to  the  new  time,  the  Australian  Consti- 
tution does  not  much  differ  from  the  American. 

Australia  is  following  in  the  steps  of  the  United 
States  in  other  matters  besides  the  fashioning  of  its 

J27 


A  New  Monroe  Doctrine 

constitution.  The  new  Parliament  is  not  yet  a  year  old, 
but  it  has  already  formulated  a  demand  pregnant  with 
great  consequences  for  the  adoption  of  a  Monroe  doc- 
trine for  the  Pacific..,  The  question  arose  in  the  de- 
bate upon  a  New  Guinea  Protectorate,  and  the  demand 
that  the  Australian  Government  should  press  for  the 
adoption  by  the  Empire  of  a  Monroe  doctrine  for  the 
Pacific  met  with  unanimous  support.  The  Prime  Min- 
ister undertook  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  representa- 
tives of  the  Commonwealth,  and  thus  at  a  bound  Aus- 
tralia has  leapt  into  the  international  area,  with  a  de- 
mand, avowedly  fashioned  upon  the  American  prece- 
dent, which  will  be  regarded  as  a  direct  challenge  by 
all  the  States  which  have  possessions  in  the  Pacific. 
The  policy  may  be  right  or  it  may  be  wrong ;  but  it 
has  at  least  the  excellent  quality  of  precision.  It  is  an 
unmistakable  proclamation  on  the  part  of  the  new  Com- 
monwealth that  no  European  or  Asiatic  Power  is  to  be 
allowed  to  extend  its  dominions  in  the  Pacific  ocean. 
It  does  not  yet  appear  whether  the  doctrine  is  to  be  ex- 
panded so  far  as  to  include  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. Probably  not.*  Neither  is  it  quite  clear  from  the 
brief  telegram  which  is  all  that  has  yet  reached  this 

*  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  remember  that  Sena- 
tor Proctor  suggested  some  two  or  three  years  ago  that  in 
Asia,  Britain  and  the  United  States  should  replace  the  wan- 
ing Imperialism  of  old  Rome  by  a  new  Imperialism  destined 
to  carry  the  world-wide  principles  of  Anglo-Saxon  peace 
and  justice,  liberty  and  law.  The  measures  which  he  sug- 
gests as  necessary  to  achieve  this  end  are  the  following: — 

(i)  A  Treaty  of  Arbitration  in  which  all  nations  should  be 
invited  to  join,  but  which  in  the  first  case  should  be  nego- 
tiated between  the  United  States.  Great  Britain  and  Holland. 

128 


Probable  Consequences 

country,  what  are  the  limits  of  the  area  within  which 
the  Australian  Monroe  doctrine  is  to  apply. 

As  the  demand  arose  out  of  a  debate  on  the  ques- 
tion of  New  Guinea,  it  is  probable  that  the  area  cov- 
ered by  this  new  interdict  includes  all  the  islands  on 
this  side  of  the  Straits  of  Malacca,  even  if  it  does  not 
also  include  the  great  island  of  Sumatra,  where  the 
Dutch  for  many  years  past  have  been  at  war  with  the 
Atchinese. 

Following  the  precedent  of  the  Monroe  doctrine, 
there  will  be  no  immediate  demand  that  the  powers 
which  have  already  seated  themselves  on  the  islands 
in  the  seas  adjacent  to  Australia  should  haul  down 
their  flags  and  depart,  for  which  mercy  we  may  well 
express  our  thanks.  But  as  there  is  a  tendency  among 
the  Americans  to  expand  the  Monroe  doctrine  so  far 
as  to  convert  it  into  a  reserved  notice  to  quit  to  all 
European  Powers  whose  flags  are  temporarily  toler- 
ated in  the  New  World,  so  we  may  be  pretty  certain 
that  the  Australian  Monroists,  if  encouraged,  will  in- 
timate pretty  plainly  that  the  presence  of  the  Dutch  in 
Java  and  Sumatra,  the  Germans  in  New  Guinea  and 
Samoa,  and  the  French  in  New  Caledonia  and  Tahiti, 
is  only  tolerated  during  good  behavior,  and  that  any 
manifestation  of  a  desire  on  their  part  to  extend  the 
area  of  their  territories  will  be  held  to  be  good  and 
sufficient  reason  for  bundling  them  out  bag  and  bag- 
gage over  the  seas  which  are  now  earmarked  and  ex- 
clusively reserved  for  Australians  or  at  least  for 
English-speaking  men. 

What  the  European  Powers  will  think  of  this,  it  is 

J29 


The  Straining  Point 

easy  to  imagine.  The  Spectator,  some  time  ago,  inti- 
mated, not  obscurely,  that  nothing  was  more  likely 
than  that  the  Australians,  casting  covetous  eyes  on 
Java,  would  endeavor  to  eject  the  Dutch ;  but  although 
there  are  no  limits  to  the  fantasies  of  the  Spectator, 
there  are  some  limits  to  the  resources  of  the  Imperial 
Government. 

Of  course,  any  attempt  to  enforce  the  Australian 
Monroe  doctrine  for  the  Pacific  would  be  futile  unless 
the  Australians  could  wield,  not  only  the  small  squad- 
ron which  they  maintain  in  Australian  waters,  but  the 
war  fleets  of  the  Empire.  It  is  easy  to  see  what 
dangers  the  adoption  of  such  a  policy  by  the  Empire 
would  entail  upon  us  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  world. 
It  is  equally  easy  to  see  the  angry  disappointment 
which  will  be  occasioned  in  Australia  if  an  unsympa- 
thetic answer  is  returned  from  Downing  Street. 

One  thing  is  quite  certain,  and  that  is,  that  if  the 
Empire  were  to  attempt  to  put  a  ring-fence  round  the 
unoccupied  lands  of  the  Pacific,  it  would  in  a  very 
short  time  be  compelled  to  undertake  the  duty  of  oc- 
cupying and  administering  them  all.  This  might  not 
be  difficult  with  the  smaller  unappropriated  islands 
which  would  not  pay  the  expense  of  administration, 
but  it  would  be  very  different  with  the  islands  which 
lie  between  the  straits  of  Malacca  and  the  Gulf  of  Car- 
pentaria. 

Sir  Julius  Vogel  long  ago  proposed  to  proclaim  a 

protectorate  on  behalf  of  New  Zealand  over  all  the 

Pacific   islands — a  bold   step   which,   if   it   had   been 

taken  then,  might  have  averted  many  of  the  dangers 

J30 


Australia  for  the  White 

which  would  have  to  be  faced  if  a  similar  policy  were 
adopted  to-day.  Since  Sir  Julius  Vogel's  time,  Ger- 
many has  entered  into  the  Pacific,  and  there  will  be 
small  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  other  Powers  to 
recognize  a  mere  paper  protectorate.  For  the  mo- 
ment, however,  we  may  dismiss  the  subject,  merely 
noting  the  fact  as  one  more  point  in  which  Australian 
policy  is  more  in  accord  with  that  of  the  United  States 
than  with  that  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

We  now  approach  the  subject  which  of  all  others 
is  most  likely  to  strain  to  breaking  point  the  ties  be- 
tween the  Commonwealth  and  the  Mother  Country. 
Australia  is  an  undeveloped  continent,  the  northern 
half  of  which  lies  within  the  tropics,  that  is  to  say, 
there  is  a  region  as  large  as  the  whole  of  Europe  with- 
out Russia,  which  it  is  practically  impossible  to  develop 
without  colored  labor.  Opinion  is  divided  on  this 
point.  The  colony  which  lies  within  the  tropical  zone 
speaks  with  two  voices.  The  Queensland  delegates  in 
the  Federal  Parliament  assert  that  white  men  can  do 
all  the  work  that  is  needed  in  the  sugar  plantations, 
while  the  Queensland  Government  holds  exactly  the 
opposite  opinion,  and  maintains  that  any  interdict  upon 
colored  labor  will  be  fatal  to  the  Colony. 

When  doctors  disagree,  the  people  decide,  and  when 
Queensland  herself  speaks  with  a  double  voice,  the 
uninstructed  outsider  must  draw  his  own  conclusions. 
Of  one  thing  there  is  no  doubt,  and  that  is  that  wheth- 
er white  men  can  or  cannot  live  and  thrive  while  per- 
forming arduous  manual  labor  under  a  tropical  sun, 
the  white  man  won't.  It  is  equally  certain  that  the 

m 


Australia  for  the  White 

brown  and  the  yellow  man  are  only  too  anxious  to 
have  an  opportunity  to  earn  their  living  by  converting 
the  wilderness  into  a  garden.  There  are  more  millions 
of  Indian  coolies,  Chinese  laborers,  and  Japanese  hus- 
bandmen ready  to  open  up  and  develop  the  immense 
agricultural  and  mineral  resources  of  Northern  Aus- 
tralia, than  there  are  white  men  in  the  whole  conti- 
nent. But,  again,  following  the  example  of  the  United 
States,  the  Federal  Parliament  is  absolutely  opposed 
to  the  introduction  of  colored  labor. 

The  cry  of  a  White  Australia  has  carried  all  before 
it,  and  the  members  have  shown  an  almost  fanatic 
zeal  in  fencing  round  the  Island  Continent  with  a 
high  wall  foi  the  exclusion  of  Chinese,  Japanese,  and 
Indian  coolies.  They  have  even  gone  the  length  of  re- 
fusing to  pay  a  subsidy  for  the  carriage  of  mails  to  any 
steamship  company  which  employ  Lascars.  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain objected  to  any  strong  measure  of  exclusion 
against  Asiatics.  But  he  had  no  objection  to  their  ex- 
clusion by  means  of  an  educational  test  which,  as  it 
will  be  administered,  many  members  of  the  Federal 
Parliament  themselves  would  find  much  difficulty  in 
passing.  In  regard  to  the  question  whether  colored 
labor  should  be  employed,  Mr.  Chamberlain  vetoed 
this  on  the  two-fold  ground  that  it  was  impossible  for 
the  Imperial  Government  to  sanction  the  exclusion  of 
the  King's  own  subjects  from  a  British  colony,  and  that 
such  an  interdict  might  involve  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment with  other  Powers,  possibly  with  Japan. 

All  the  arguments  which  are  now  being  used  in 
America  to  secure  the  renewal  of  the  Chinese  Ex- 
J32 


The  New  Commonwealth 

elusion  Bill  are  brought  out  and  urged  in  order  to 
lock  and  double-lock  the  door  of  Australia  against  any 
influx  of  Asiatics.  Here,  again,  Australia  is  proclaim- 
ing a  policy  which  can  only  be  enforced  by  the  aid  of 
the  Imperial  fleet.  One  of  the  great  achievements  of 
which  the  civilized  Powers  were  very  proud  in  the 
nineteenth  century  was  the  success  with  which  they 
battered  in  the  gates  which  the  Japanese  had  locked 
and  double-locked  against  the  invasion  of  Europeans. 
Having  battered  down  the  front  door  of  the  Japanese 
house,  and  hailed  it  as  a  great  triumph  of  civilization, 
the  Australians  are  now  calling  upon  us  to  keep  the 
Japanese  from  battering  down  the  barrier  which  has 
been  built  up  to  prevent  the  ingress  of  Asiatics  into 
Australia. 

Yet  in  the  latter  case  there  is  admittedly  ample  room 
to  spare  for  millions  of  Japanese,  and  unless  their  la- 
bor is  employed,  vast  tracts  of  territory  exceeding  in 
extent  the  whole  of  the  area  of  the  Japanese  islands 
will  remain  practically  useless  to  mankind.  The 
Japanese  conservatives,  whose  resistance  we  overcame 
by  the  summary  persuasion  of  our  cannon,  could  at 
least  claim  that  they  had  filled  up  their  own  country, 
and  that  there  was  no  waste  land  for  settlers.  Such 
considerations,  however,  do  not  weigh  for  much  with 
the  rulers  of  the  new  Commonwealth.  They  have 
made  up  their  mind  that  Australia  is  to  be  reserved  for 
white  men.  No  yellow,  brown,  or  black  man  need  ap- 
ply, not  even  although  it  should  be  a  demonstrable  fact 
that  without  his  labor  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square 


(33 


In  the  Opinion  of  Mark  Twain 

miles  of  fertile  land  must  remain  unreclaimed  from  the 
wilderness. 

It  is  obvious  from  this  brief  survey  of  some  of  the 
points  upon  which  possible  friction  may  arise  that  the 
Australians  may  demand  from  the  Home  Government 
that  which  the  Home  Government  cannot  concede. 
The  new  Commonwealth,  in  the  pride  of  its  youth,  will 
find  it  very  difficult  to  confine  its  enthusiasm  within 
limits  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  Empire. 

There  will  be  a  very  strong  party  in  the  Common- 
wealth in  favor  of  independence.  The  Sydney  Bul- 
letin, a  weekly  serio-comic  journal,  which  has  done 
much  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  Australian  Common- 
wealth, and  is  the  only  weekly  paper  which  circulates 
throughout  the  whole  colony,  is  the  most  uncompro- 
mising advocate  of  Australia  for  the  Australians  that 
could  be  found  anywhere  in  the  Empire.  It  deserves 
great  credit  for  the  unflinching  intrepidity  with  which 
it  opposed  the  South  African  War,  but  it  has  to  be 
reckoned  with  as  a  permanent  force  against  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Imperial  tie. 

Apart  from  these  political  points  on  which  the  Aus- 
tralians resemble  the  Americans,  there  are  others  ob- 
vious to  everyone  who  has  visited  the  Antipodes. 

When  Mark  Twain  visited  Australia  he  found  the 
Australians  in  many  respects  exceedingly  American. 
For  instance,  in  his  "More  Tramps  Abroad,"  he  said : — 

"  Sydney  has  a  population  of  400,000.  When  a  stranger 
from  America  steps  ashore  there,  the  first  thing  that  strikes 
him  is  that  it  is  an  English  city  with  American  trimmings. 
Later  on,  in  Melbourne,  he  will  find  the  American  trimming 
still  more  in  evidence.  There  even  the  architecture  will  often 

134 


Australians  as  a  People 

suggest  America.  The  photograph  of  its  stateliest  business 
street  might  be  passed  off  for  a  picture  of  the  finest  street 
in  a  large  American  city." 

He  did  not,  however,  see  any  need  for  Australia  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  the  American  Colonies.  He 
said : — 


"  There  seems  to  be  a  party  that  would  have  Australia 
cut  loose  from  the  British  Empire,  and  set  up  housekeeping 
on  her  own  account.  It  seems  an  unwise  idea.  They  point  to  the 
United  States ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  cases  lack  a  good 
deal  of  being  alike.  Australia  governs  herself  wholly.  There 
is  no  interference.  If  our  case  had  been  the  same,  we  should 
not  have  gone  out  when  we  did.  But  the  Americans  are 
welcomed  in  Australia.  One  of  the  speakers  at  the  Com- 
memoration Banquet  at  Adelaide,  the  Minister  of  Public 
Works,  was  an  American  born  and  reared  in  New  Zealand. 
There  is  nothing  narrow  about  the  province  politically  or  in 
any  other  way  that  I  know  of.  Sixty-four  different  religions 
and  a  Yankee  Cabinet  Minister.  No  amount  of  horse-racing 
can  damn  this  community." 


Where  the  Australians  differ  from  the  Americans 
is  in  the  absence  of  any  element  corresponding  to  the 
ethical  leaven  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  In  the  whole 
of  their  history  the  Australians  have  never  passed 
through  the  hard  experiences  which  discipline  nations. 
They  have  been  the  spoiled  children  of  the  human  race. 
War,  pestilence  and  famine,  the  three  scourges  of  man- 
kind, have  never  compelled  them  to  realize  the  sterner 
realities  of  existence.  They  have  never  experienced 
any  deeper  emotions  than  those  engendered  by  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  South  African  War. 

They  are  splendid  cricketers,  matchless  horsemen, 
and  devoted  to  all  manner  of  sport.  Sport,  indeed, 

J35 


Australians  as  a  People 

may  be  said  to  be  the  Australian  religion,  and  with 
them  the  chief  end  of  man  is  to  him  to  have  a  good 
time.  A  self-indulgent  and  undisciplined  race  which 
is  suddenly  called  upon  to  cope  with  the  delicate  and 
dangerous  problems  'of  international  policy  is  certain 
to  be  wilful,  impulsive,  impetuous,  not  to  say  reckless 
in  the  pursuit  of  its  ideals. 

The  late  Mr.  Francis  Adams,  who  for  some  time 
was  on  the  staff  of  the  Sydney  Bulletin,  gave  a  very 
sombre  account  of  the.  citizens  of  the  New  Common- 
wealth. He  said: — 


"  Educated  in  a  secular  manner,  even  in  the  denominational 
grammar  schools,  our  New  World  youth  is  a  pure  Positivist 
and  Materialist.  Religion  seems  to  him  at  best  a  social  affair, 
to  whose  inner  appeal  he  is  profoundly  indifferent.  History 
is  nothing  to  him,  and  all  he  knows  or  cares  for  England  lies 
in  his  resentment  and  curiosity  concerning  London.  Sunday 
is  rapidly  becoming  Continental,  more  and  more  the  charac- 
teristics of  a  careless,  pleasure-loving  race  are  developed,  that 
is  secularly  educated.  The  true  Gallio  gets  his  own  way. 
History  is  identified  with  religion,  and  as  such  excluded  from 
the  curriculum,  so  that  the  sense  of  the  poetry  of  the  past  and 
the  solidarity  of  the  race  is  rapidly  being  lost  to  the  young 
Australian.  To  the  next  generation  England  will  be  a  geo- 
graphical expression,  and  the  Empire  a  myth  in  imminent 
danger  of  becoming  a  bogey." 

Mr.  David  Christie  Murray  declared  that  the  Aus- 
tralians were  the  rowdiest  and  most  drunken  popula- 
tion in  the  world : — 


"  Parental  control,  as  we  Know  it  in  England,  has  died  out 
entirely.  There  is  no  reverence  in  the  rising  generation,  and 
the  ties  of  home  are  slight.  Age  and  experience  count  for 
little,  the  whole  country  is  filled  with  a  feverish  and  restless 
energy.  Everybody  is  in  a  hurry  to  be  rich." 

J36 


Australian  Types 

Sir  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  eleven  years  ago,  before 
Federation  had  been  accomplished,  thus  described  Aus- 
tralia and  the  Australians : — 


"  There  are  six  States  which  possess  more  natural  wealth, 
wider  territory,  a  better  climate,  and  richer  mineral  deposits 
than  the  six  great  Kingdoms  in  Europe,  where  a  new  Eng- 
land, a  new  Italy,  a  new  France,  a  new  Spain,  and  a  new 
Austria  are  in  rapid  process  of  growth,  and  are  already  occu- 
pied by  a  picked  population.  They  are  no  insignificant  hand- 
ful of  men — these  Australian  colonists;  they  are  more  numer- 
ous than  the  people  of  England  were  when  they  won  Magna 
Charta,  or  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  when  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  were  first  hoisted  to  the  sky — resolute,  im- 
patient men,  not  unworthy,  to  follow  such  examples  on  ade- 
quate occasions." 

When  the  late  Henry  George  visited  Australia  he 
was  much  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  English 
characteristics  of  Australians  were  only  on  the  sur- 
face:— 


"  It  seemed  to  me  that  in  spite  of  the  retention  of  English 
ways  and  habits,  the  Australian  type  that  is  developing  is 
nearer  to  the  American  than  to  the  British.  The  new  coun- 
try, the  fresher,  freer  life,  the  better  diffusion  of  wealth,  are 
telling  in  the  same  way  on  the  English  that  have  taken  root 
in  Australia  as  on  the  English  that  took  root  in  America. 
There  are,  I  think,  in  the  people,  and  especially  in  the  native- 
born  evidences  of  the  very  inventiveness,  the  same  self-reli- 
ance and  push,  the  same  independence,  the  same  quickness  of 
thought  and  movement,  the  same  self-satisfaction  and  spread- 
eagletiveness  as  are  supposed  to  be  characteristic  of  our  own. 
The  Australian  States  are  only  nominally  colonies.  They  are 
in  reality  in  all  things  of  practical  importance  self-governing 
Republics.  With  the  political  connection  with  Great  Britain, 
which  under  present  conditions  combines  security  with  free- 
dom, there  is  no  restiveness,  neither  do  I  think  there  is  any 
loyalty  more  than  skin-deep.  The  tariff  legislation,  in  which 
Great  Britain  is  treated  as  any  other  foreign  country,  is  a 
-more  substantial  declaration  of  independence  than  any  mere 

J37 


Speak  English  or  German' 

formal  declaration  could  be.  As  for  feeling  towards  the 
United  States,  it  is  fully  as  good  and  as  warm  as  we  deserve. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  Australians  would  be  quick  to 
respond  to  any  proposition  from  us  for  reciprocity.  We 
could  virtually  annex  Australia  as  we  could  virtually  annex 
Canada,  and  Great  Bfitain  by  the  simple  process  of  abolish- 
ing our  tariff  and  raising  our  revenues  by  means  not  in  them- 
selves corrupt." 


Henry  George's  suggestion  as  to  reciprocity  may 
bear  fruit.  President  Roosevelt  received  from  his 
predecessor  as  an  inheritance  the  adoption  of  a  policy 
of  reciprocity.  The  connection  between  Australia  and 
the  Pacific  Coast  is  very  close.  Even  now  mails  sent 
from  London  via  San  Francisco  reach  New  Zealand  a 
fortnight  earlier  than  mails  sent  by  any  other  route. 

The  Americans,  eager  for  new  markets,  will  find  a 
better  opening  for  their  manufactures  in  Australia 
than  in  the  Philippines.  Nor  will  they  have  any  set- 
off  in  the  shape  of  military  charges  or  cost  of  adminis- 
tration. Should  the  Australians  ever  declare  for  inde- 
pendence, the  strain  of  the  rupture  will  lead  them 
naturally  to  seek  for  support  where  it  can  be  found, 
and  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  United  States 
render  it  impossible  that  they  should  look  in  vain  for 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  American  Republic. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  questions  of  the  future 
is  whether  the  Australians  of  the  future  will  speak 
English  or  German.  At  present  all  the  odds  are  in 
favor  of  English,  but  the  chance  that  the  majority 
of  men  who  would  people  Australia  at  the  end  of  the 
century  may  speak  German  and  not  English  is  greater 
than  most  English  people  have  yet  realized. 
133 


The  Birth-Rate  Danger 

According  to  the  last  census  returns,  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  Australian  Commonwealth  was  under 
four  millions,  the  exact  figures  being  3,777,212  or  less 
than  the  population  of  London.  In  the  previous  dec- 
ade the  total  increase  was  593,975.  There  was  prac- 
tically no  gain  by  emigration.  The  increase  from  that 
source  was  only  5,328,  most  if  not  all  of  whom  were 
either  Japanese,  Hindus,  or  Kanakas.  The  Australian 
legislators  and  journalists  have  sounded  the  alarm 
over  the  extent  to  which  the  Australian  parents  have 
adopted  as  a  rule  of  life  the  preventive  limitation  of 
the  family. 

According  to  Mr.  Coghlan's  recently  published  book 
entitled  "A  Study  in  Statistics,"  between  1895  and 
1898  the  average  birth-rate  in  New  South  Wales  has 
declined  by  one-third,  and  there  are  fewer  children 
under  ten  years  of  age  in  Victoria  than  there  were  ten 
years  ago.  In  New  South  Wales  in  1885,  546,000 
women  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  fifty  produced 
as  many  children  as  665,767  women  of  the  same  ages 
in  1898.  The  number  of  children  born  to  wives  of 
Australian  birth  is  3.5 ;  in  France  it  is  3.4.  Thirty 
years  ago  the  average  in  Australia  was  5.31.  The 
birth-rate  has  fallen  in  the  United  Kingdom  but  noth- 
ing like  to  the  same  extent. 

The  average  number  of  children  per  marriage  in 
the  United  Kingdom  was  4.36  ten  years  ago.  In  1900 
it  had  fallen  to  3.63,  a  reduction  of  nearly  7  per  cent. 
A  population  which  has  ceased  to  increase  and  multi- 
ply, and  has  arrived  at  a  birth-rate  almost  identical 
with  that  which  for  several  years  past  arrested  the  in- 


Germanized  Australia 

crease  of  population  in  France,  cannot  count  confi- 
dently upon  controlling  the  future  of  the  continent 
upon  the  rim  of  which  it  has  squatted. 

Australia  in  geographical  extent  is  large  enough 
to  include  the  whole1  of  the  United  States,  with  the 
exception  of  Florida  and  Alaska.  It  is,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Siberia,  the  one  vast  unoccupied  habitable 
expanse  left  on  the  world's  surface.  If  the  Australians 
are  ceasing  to  increase  and  multiply  and  replenish  the 
earth,  and  are  confining  themselves  merely  to  keeping 
up  their  numbers  with  a  small  annual  increase,  they 
need  not  expect  to  be  able  to  monopolize  the  posses- 
sion of  the  vast  hinterland  which  could  afford  homes 
for  the  overflow  of  Europe  for  the  next  hundred  years. 

If  the  Australians  are  ceasing  to  breed,  the  Ger- 
mans are  not.  For  the  last  ten  years  the  great  de- 
velopment of  manufacturing  industry  in  Germany  has 
practically  arrested  the  outflow  of  emigrants  from 
the  Fatherland.  But  the  present  financial  crisis  in  the 
German  Empire  will  turn  on  the  tap  once  more.  Even 
without  any  such  distinct  impetus  to  emigration,  it  is 
obvious  that  Central  Europe  must  again  begin  to  pour 
out  a  steady  stream  of  her  surplus  population  for 
which  there  is  no  room  at  home. 

Hitherto  the  great  stream  of  German  emigrants  has 
been  directed  to  the  United  States  of  America.  But 
there  the  English-speaking  people  have  got  too  much 
start.  They  are  too  numerous  and  too  powerful  for 
the  Germans  ever  to  hope  to  destroy  the  English- 
speaking  character  of  the  United  States.  It  is  dif- 
ferent in  Australia.  It  is  by  no  means  beyond  the  pale 
HO 


Germans  Good  Colonists 

of  possibility  that  German  emigration,  if  directed  to  the 
Antipodes,  might  reach  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year. 
In  ten  years  one-half  of  the  population  of  Australia 
would  be  of  German  origin. 

If  Germans  breed  and  Australians  will  not,  the 
future  will  unquestionably  lie  with  the  most  prolific 
race.  Australia  to  the  German  offers  every  advan- 
tage of  a  German  colony,  and  none  of  the  disadvan- 
tages. Every  German  settler  is  as  free  to  take  up 
land  in  Australia  as  if  he  were  born  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  The  Germans  have  already  effected  a  lodg- 
ment in  the  Antipodes. 

Mr.  Sutherland,  who  contributed  to  the  Centennial 
of  May,  1900,  an  article  on  the  German  Villages,  de- 
clared that  there  were  few  Colonies  in  which  a  Con- 
tinental European  nation  had  left  so  distinctly  its 
national  and  racial  mark.  At  the  same  time  there  were 
from  30,000  to  40,000  German  colonists  in  Australia. 
They  were  chiefly  to  be  found  in  South  Australia. 
For  many  miles  north  and  south  of  Port  Mannum  the 
country  is  dotted  with  German  farms,  and  the  farmers 
are  developing  vine-growing,  Mr.  Sutherland  says : — 

"  The  stream  of  German  emigration  to  South  Australia 
never  ceases.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  fits  and  starts ;  it  goes  on 
quietly  from  year  to  year,  and  the  proportion  of  German 
colonists  steadily  keeps  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  affinity  of  kinship,  religion,  and  language  has 
proved  more  powerful  than  any  disintegrating  influence.  At 
the  present  time,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  flow  of 
German  colonization  is  largely  on  the  increase.  By  the  last 
census  it  appeared  that  the  number  of  colonists  who  owned 
Germany  as  their  birthplace  was  almost  exactly  equal  to  the 
sum  total  of  those  who  were  born  in  all  the  other  Australian 
Colonies.  Some  of  the  finest  steamers  in  the  Australian  trade 


New  Zealand's  Leanings 

are  now  engaged  in  bringing  passengers  direct  from  Bremen 
and  Antwerp  to  the  chief  cities  of  Australia.  Adelaide  re- 
ceives a  large  proportion  of  this  influx." 

The  Germans  make  good  colonists.  They  do  not 
crowd  to  the  towns  as  the  Australians  do.  They 
abide  by  the  Lutheran  religion,  and,  although  they 
cherish  their  own  language,  they  become  good  Aus- 
tralian citizens.  There  is  not  much  probability  that 
even  if  Australia  became  a  German-speaking  land, 
it  would  place  itself  under  the  domination  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  But  at  the  present  moment,  taking  a 
wide  lookout  over  the  world,  there  seems  to  be  much 
better  chance  of  creating  a  Greater  Germany  beyond 
the  sea  in  Australia  than  anywhere  else  on  the  world's 
surface. 

I  have  said  nothing  in  this  chapter  about  New  Zea- 
land, which  appears  to  be  developing  her  destinies 
quite  independently  of  Australia.  At  present  it  would 
seem  as  if  New  Zealand  had  a  greater  attraction  for 
the  United  States  than  the  United  States  for  New 
Zealand.  There  is  no  country  in  the  world  whose 
social  experiments  are  watched  with  greater  interest 
by  the  younger  school  of  American  economists  and 
politicians  than  those  which  have  been  carried  out 
by  that  Colony. 

Should  the  industrial  development  of  the  United 
States  take  a  trend  in  the  direction  of  State  socialism, 
it  is  to  the  experiments  of  New  Zealand  that  the  Ameri- 
can legislators  will  look  for  guidance  as  to  what  to  do 
and  what  to  avoid  doing.  But  whether  the  attraction 
is  exercised  by  New  Zealand  upon  the  United  States 
H2 


Loyalty  of  Colonists 

or  by  the  United  States  upon  New  Zealand,  it  cannot 
fail  to  unite  the  two  countries  more  closely  together 
by  ties  of  common  interest.  Although  there  is  but 
little  trace  of  American  influence  in  New  Zealand  at 
present. 

Writing  on  the  question  of  the  future  relations  of 
the  United  States  and  New  Zealand  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  in  1890,  Mr.  Bakewell,  a  very  intelligent  resi- 
dent in  Auckland,  New  Zealand,  expressed  an  em- 
phatic opinion  as  to  the  readiness  of  the  New  Zealand- 
ers  at  that  time  to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  the 
British  Empire  to  the  United  States  of  America.  He 
said : — 

"  If  Australia  became  independent,  Canada  would  follow 
suit,  and  the  probability  is  that  a  great  federation  of  English- 
speaking  Republics  would  be  formed,  including  the  United 
States.  In  that  case  New  Zealand  would  join  as  a  separate 
State,  as  Texas  did.  If  the  question  of  annexation  as  a  State 
to  the  United  States  of  North  America  were  put  to  the  vote 
to-morrow,  there  would  not  be  a  thousand  votes  against  it." 

That  was  eleven  years  ago.  Mr.  Bakewell  would 
not  repeat  it  to-day.  In  1890  there  was  very  little 
Imperial  feeling  in  New  Zealand.  Loyalty  was  chiefly 
confined  to  those  colonists  who  were  British-born. 
The  younger  generation  sat  very  loosely  to  the  Em- 
pire. 

"  If  you  want  to  keep  us  from  Republicanism,"  said  Mr. 
Bakewell,  "  you  must  let  us  see  something  of  royalty," 

The  hint  has  been  taken,  and  the  recent  tour  of  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Cornwall  and  York  has  been 

J43 


A  Contrast 

exploited  to  the  uttermost  in  the  interests  of  the  Em- 
pire. Nevertheless,  there  is  no  more  independent  com- 
munity on  the  world's  surface  than  New  Zealand,  nor 
any  which  would  more  angrily  resent  any  attempt  to 
cross  its  will. 

It  is  impossible  to  repress  a  somewhat  sardonic 
smile  at  the  thought  of  Mr.  Seddon  beating  the  war- 
drum  and  sending  forth  contingent  after  contingent 
of  New  Zealand  youth  in  order  to  suppress  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  South  African  Republics,  when  every- 
one knows  perfectly  well  that  he  and  all  the  New  Zea- 
landers  would  have  rushed  to  arms  long  before  if  Mr. 
Chamberlain  had  interfered  one-tenth  as  much  with 
the  internal  affairs  of  New  Zealand  as  he  did  with 
those  of  the  Transvaal. 

President  Kruger  was  a  much  less  independent  po- 
tentate than  Mr.  Seddon;  and  New  Zealand  as  an 
"independent  sister  nation"  is  much  more  independent 
of  control  from  Downing  Street  than  the  Transvaal 
would  be  if  its  independence  were  restored  to-morrow, 
with  such  treaty  limitations  as  even  President  Kruger 
is  now  willing  to  accept. 


J44 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Eighth 

A  Crucible  of  Nations 

THE  United  States  of  America  owes  no  small  por- 
tion of  its  exuberant  energies  to  the  fact  that  there 
has  poured  into  that  Continent  for  the  last  fifty  years 
a  never-ceasing  flood  of  emigrants  recruited  for  the 
most  part  from  the  more  energetic,  enterprising  and 
adventurous  members  of  the  Old  World.  The  United 
States  has  taken  the  place  of  the  United  Kingdom  as 
the  natural  refuge  of  the  political  refugee. 

There  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  which  has  not 
contributed  of  its  best  to  build  up  the  American  peo- 
ple. The  tradition  of  the  Mayflower  has  been  main- 
tained to  this  day.  It  is  true  that  most  of  those  who 
have  migrated  to  the  United  States  have  not  gone 
thither  to  seek  freedom  and  to  worship  God  so  much  as 
to  seek  opportunity  to  earn  a  decent  livelihood;  but 
there  has  never  failed  a  goodly  proportion  of  those  who 
were  driven  from  the  Old  World  by  the  lash  of  the 
persecutor.  But  whether  they  have  emigrated  for 
conscience'  sake,  or  whether  they  came  in  search  of 
filthy  lucre,  they  have  always  been  above  the  average. 

145 


The  Elements  of  Greatness 

Sometimes  the  motive  which  drove  them  westward 
has  been  a  desire  to  escape  from  justice  or  to  evade 
the  obligations  of  citizenship ;  but  whether  the  mo- 
tive in  itself  was  respectable  or  disreputable,  the  fact 
that  it  sufficed  to  transfer  so  many  human  bodies  across 
3,000  miles  of  ocean  to  new  homes  in  a  new  world 
showed  at  least  that  the  souls  which  give  mobility  to 
these  human  bodies  were  capable  of  taking  risks,  of 
facing  the  unknown,  and  of  submitting  to  the  sacrifice 
entailed  by  severance  from  the  environment  of  their 
childhood. 

In  other  words,  the  nineteen  millions  of  emigrants 
who  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  the  last  century  to  find 
homes  in  the  United  States  have  been  men  of  faith. 
They  believed  in  themselves ;  they  believed  in  the  fu- 
ture, and  although  in  a  very  material  sense  they  sought 
a  better  city  than  that  into  which  they  had  been  born ; 
they  were  masters  of  their  destiny. 

The  crowded  millions  of  the  Old  World  who  are 
born  and  live  and  die  in  the  district  in  which  they 
happen  to  be  born  represent  the  vis  inertia  of  Europe. 
The  nineteen  millions  who  cross  the  Atlantic  repre- 
sent its  aspirations  and  its  energy.  Many  of  them, 
no  doubt,  were  driven  westward  by  the  scourge  of 
starvation.  But  many  millions  who  suffered  as  much 
as  they,  remained  behind,  lacking  the  energy  necessary 
to  transport  them  to  another  hemisphere. 

The  emigrant  population,  therefore,  possesses  pre- 
eminently this  characteristic  that  it  has  sufficient  life 
to  have  motion,  sufficient  faith  to  face  the  future,  under 
the  unknown  conditions  of  a  new  world,  and  sufficient 
146 


Human  Ingots 

capacity  to  acquire  the  means  requisite  to  transport 
them  across  the  Atlantic.  This  emigration,  which  is 
often  regarded  by  Americans  as  an  element  of  danger, 
has  probably  contributed  more  than  any  other,  except 
the  Puritan  education  of  New  England,  to  the  mak- 
ing of  the  Republic. 

The  American,  it  is  evident,  is  no  mere  Englishman 
transplanted  to  another  continent.  In  his  veins  flows 
the  blood  of  a  dozen  non-English  races.  The  Eng- 
lish, some  say,  can  claim  only  an  antiquarian  interest 
in  the  new  race  which  has  emerged  from  the  furnace 
pot  into  which  all  nationalities  have  been  smelted  down 
in  order  to  produce  that  richest  ingot  of  humanity, 
the  modern  American.*  But  there  is  surely  no  need 
for  this  vehement  repudiation  of  the  nation  which  first 
colonized  Virginia  and  equipped  the  Mayflower.  As 
for  the  foreign  element  in  the  human  conglomerate, 
that  troubles  us  little.  We  English  are  a  composite 
race.  It  is  no  small  part  of  the  secret  of  our  great- 
ness. 

If  the  North  American  Continent  may  be  compared 


*  I  hope  that  this  may  not  bring  a  blush  to  the  cheek  of 
any  American,  for,  as  Mr.  W.  D.  Howells  wrote  in  1897, 
"  Whatever  Europe  may  think  to  the  contrary,  we  are  now 
really  a  modest  people."  But  when  I  read  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Cummins,  the  Governor-elect  of  Iowa,  at  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce  dinner,  I  was  reassured.  For  Mr. 
Cummins  declared  that  "  In  the  depth  and  breadth  of  char- 
acter, in  the  volume  of  hope  and  ambition,  in  the  universality 
of  knowledge,  in  reverence  for  law  and  order,  in  the  beauty 
and  sanctity  of  our  homes,  in  sobriety,  in  respect  for  the 
rights  of  others,  in  recognition  of  the  duties  of  citizenship, 
and  in  the  ease  and  honor  with  which  we  tread  the  myriad 
paths  leading  from  rank  to  rank,  in  life,  our  people  surpass 
all  their  fellow-men." 

J47 


Blending  of  Races 

to  a  mammoth  blast  furnace,  in  which  the  crude  ores 
quarried  in  many  diverse  mines  are  being  smelted  into 
a  human  compound,  quite  distinct  and  diverse  from 
any  of  its  constituents,  these  islands  of  ours  may  be 
described  as  a  crucible  in  which  the  same  process  has 
been  going  on  for  ages.  We  are  emphatically  a  mixed 
race.  The  process  which  we  witness  on  a  great  scale 
and  with  immense  rapidity  in  Chicago  and  New  York 
has  been  going  on  for  centuries  in  Britain.  Aborigi- 
nal Briton,  conquering  Roman,  marauding  Pict,  dev- 
astating Saxon,  piratical  Dane,  plundering  Norse- 
men and  civilizing  Norman,  were  all  used  up  in  the 
blend  labelled  English. 

Long  after  the  English  stock  emerged  from  the 
crucible  of  war,  it  was  continually  improved  by  the 
addition  of  foreign  elements.  French  Huguenots, 
German  emigrants,  fugitive  Jews,  Dutchmen  and 
Spaniards,  all  added  more  or  less  of  a  foreign  strain 
to  our  English  blood.  It  has  been  our  salvation.  The 
mixing  of  Welsh  and  Irish,  Scotch  and  English,  Celts 
of  the  Highland  and  Danes  of  Northumberland,  which 
has  gone  on  for  centuries  and  is  going  on  to-day,  has 
produced  a  type  which  is  being  reproduced  on  a 
gigantic  scale  and  with  infinite  modifications  across 
the  Atlantic. 

That  they  are  not  the  same  but  diverse  is  a  matter 
of  course.  Even  the  American  Constitution,  fash- 
ioned, as  its  founders  believed,  on  the  lines  of  the 
British,  differs  notably  from  its  model.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  common  race  even  in  England,  let 
alone  in  the  United  States.  We  are  all  conglomerates, 
J48 


The  Smelting  Pot 

with  endlessly  varying  constituents.  But  we  have  at 
least  a  common  language,  and  we  all  own  allegiance 
to  Shakespeare  if  to  no  other  man  of  woman  born. 

As  Professor  Waldstein  pointed  out  'the  English- 
speaking  nations  possess  seven  of  the  elements  which 
go  to  constitute  a  nationality,  viz.,  a  common  language  ; 
common  forms  of  government ;  common  culture,  in- 
cluding customs  and  institutions ;  a  common  history ; 
a  common  religion,  and,  finally,  common  interests. 

But  the  United  Kingdom  was  a  crucible  the  size  of 
a  tea-cup.  In  the  United  States  we  find  a  crucible 
of  Continental  dimensions.  A  process  which  in  Eng- 
land has  spread  over  centuries  has  been  carried  on  in 
the  United  States  within  the  lifetime  of  generations. 
But,  notwithstanding  all  this  vast  influx  from  beyond 
the  Seas,  it  has  failed  to  submerge  the  distinctively 
English-speaking  American.  The  New  Englander  is 
still  on  top,  and  likely  to  remain  so,  although  in  many 
of  the  great  cities  he  has  been  dethroned  for  a  time 
by  the  Irish  and  their  bosses. 

The  greatest  thing  which  the  Americans  have  done, 
much  greater  than  the  conquest  of  the  Philippines  or 
the  invasion  of  the  English  market,  or  even  than  the 
suppression  of  the  great  Rebellion,  has  been  the  super- 
intendence of  this  vast  crucible.  The  greatest  achieve- 
ment was  the  smelting  of  men  of  all  nationalities  into 
one  dominant  American  type,  or — to  vary  the  meta- 
phor— weaving  all  these  diverse  threads  of  foreign  ma- 
terial into  one  uniform  texture  of  American  civilization. 

It  has  been  done  very  largely  in  great  cities,  and  the 
work  has  been  taken  in  hand  by  men  who  are  very 

J49 


Making  the  Citizen 

far  from  conscious  artificers  of  providential  designs. 
Tammany  and  its  related  political  organizations  have 
done  a  work,  the  full  value  of  which  is  still  far  from 
being  adequately  appreciated  either  at  home  or  abroad. 
These  corrupt  organizations,  impelled  solely  by  their 
own  political  ambitions,  were  nevertheless  the  most 
efficient  agencies  for  grafting  this  multidinous  myriad 
of  foreign  emigrants  upon  the  American  trunk. 

The  Italian  or  Polish  emigrant  who  arrives  in  New 
York  and  Chicago  with  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket 
and  with  no  word  of  English  on  his  tongue  would  have 
perished,  had  it  not  been  that  in  the  Ward  Heeler  and 
the  Captain  of  the  precincts  into  which  he  had  drifted, 
he  found  a  friend  who,  in  return  for  political  service 
to  be  rendered  in  future,  was  a  very  present  help  in 
time  of  need.  He  found  him  lodgings  in  a  tenement 
house ;  he  often  found  him  work ;  he  found  him  an 
interpreter.  When  he  got  into  trouble  with  the  police, 
he  bailed  him  out  or  paid  his  fine,  or  used  his  pull  with 
the  magistrate  to  enable  him  to  escape  unwhipped  of 
justice ;  when  he  was  ill,  he  put  him  in  the  hospital ; 
when  he  was  dead,  he  buried  him ;  and,  above  all,  be- 
fore election  day  came,  he  naturalized  him,  and  se- 
cured his  vote. 

No  man  is  naturalized  in  America  according  to  law, 
unless  he  can  declare  that  he  has  read  and  accepted  the 
principles  of  the  American  Constitution.  Millions 
of  foreigners  have  been  naturalized  and  vote  every 
day,  who  know  about  as  much  of  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution  as  the  Russian  soldier  who  thought  that 
the  Constitution  was  a  woman  and  the  wife  of  one 
J50 


Population  Changes 

of  their  Grand  Dukes.  Nevertheless,  it  was  by  this 
means,  in  the  first  instance,  that  the  foreign  emigrant 
was  enabled  to  take  the  first  step  towards  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  American  nationality. 

The  school  to  which  his  children  were  sent  com- 
pleted the  operation.  In  one  generation,  or  at  most 
in  two,  the  foreign  emigrant  became  thoroughly  Ameri- 
canized, for  the  Americanization  of  the  world  is  no- 
where gaining  ground  more  rapidly  than  in  the  Amer- 
icanization of  the  citizens  of  the  world,  who  from  love 
of  adventure,  from  sheer  misfortune,  or  from  any  other 
cause,  have  transferred  their  residence  from  the  Old 
World  to  the  New. 

When  the  Republic  was  founded,  Mr.  Bancroft  esti- 
mated that  only  four-fifths  of  the  population  of  the 
revolted  colonies  used  English  as  their  mother-tongue. 
According  to  Mr.  Carroll  Wright,  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  the  population  to-day  is  half 
rather  than  one-fifth.  This,  of  course,  does  not  im- 
ply that  Mr.  Wright's  half  is  made  up  of  persons  of 
foreign  birth.  At  the  census  of  1900  not  more  than 
10,000,000  of  the  population  of  the  United  States 
had  been  born  outside  the  Union.  Of  the^  19,000,000 
who  emigrated  to  the  United  States  since  1821, 
9,000,000  are  dead ;  but  before  they  died  they  multi- 
plied amazingly. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  foreign  emigrant  that  even 
when  he  speaks  French,  he  has  been  much  more  obe- 
dient to  the  ancient  precept  to  multiply  and  increase 
and  replenish  the  earth  than  the  native-born  English- 
American.  The  tendency  to  limit  families  which  is 


Climatic  Influences 

most  conspicuous  in  France,  and  is  now  only  one  de- 
gree less  conspicuous  in  the  Australian  Colonies  and 
the  United  Kingdom,  has  long  been  remarked  as  one 
of  the  dangers  menacing  the  maintenance  of  an 
English-speaking  civilization  in  the  United  States. 

The  well-to-do  American  family  of  old  standing 
will  have  two,  three,  or  four  children,  while  the  Ger- 
man, Irish,  or  Polish  emigrant  who  works  in  the  mill 
or  the  mine  or  the  factory,  will  have  litters  of  children 
to  the  numbers  of  fifteen  and  under.  It  may  be  said 
that  it  does  not  matter,  as  they  all  learn  to  speak  Eng- 
lish, but  it  matters  a  great  deal  in  estimating  the  influ- 
ence of  the  various  foreign  strains  upon  their  ultimate 
product,  the  American  race.  Professor  Starr  recently 
startled  the  world  by  maintaining  that  if  it  were  not 
for  the  continuous  influx  of  foreign  emigration  with 
its  resultant  prolific  families,  the  genuine  American 
would  approximate  to  the  type  of  the  Red  Indian,  and, 
I  suppose,  like  the  Red  Indian,  would  dwindle  and 
disappear. 

A  recent  traveller  in  the  United  States  declared,  on 
returning  to  Britain,  that  the  American  continent  was 
like  nothing  so  much  as  one  of  the  great  refuse-de- 
stroyers which  exist  in  every  large  town.  The  climate 
seemed  to  burn  up  the  vitality  of  the  settlers,  producing 
nervous  exhaustion,  which,  if  not  recruited  continu- 
ously from  without,  would  use  up  the  race.  These 
estimates  are  great  exaggerations,  but  they  testify  to 
a  tendency  which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The 
European  American  seems  to  run  too  much  to  nerve 
and  brain.  He  lacks  the  beefy  animalism  of  his  British 
J52 


American  Ingredients 

and  German  progenitor,  and  living  at  a  great  pace 
stands  in  perpetual  need  of  nerve  tonics,  medicines, 
pills  of  all  sorts.  The  Americans,  judging  by  many 
of  the  foremost  specimens  of  the  race,  have  developed 
their  brains  at  the  expense  of  their  stomachs.  They 
have  great  calculating  apparatuses,  but  their  digestive 
organs  leave  much  to  be  desired.  You  will  often  find 
men  who  are  standing  the  heavy  strain  of  a  long  day's 
work  in  commerce  or  in  journalism  who  are  compelled 
to  diet  themselves  upon  milk  and  crackers. 

It  is  very  curious  to  note  the  various  ingredients 
which  have  been  contributed  to  this  international  cruci- 
ble by  foreign  nations.  The  German  percentage  was 
highest  between  1850  and  1860,  when  it  reached  36.6 
per  cent.  In  the  last  decade  this  had  fallen  to  13.7. 
The  Irish  percentage  was  42.3  per  cent,  in  the  period 
from  1821  to  1850;  but  between  1851  to  1860  it  fell  to 
35.2,  and  in  the  last  decade  it  had  dropped  to  only  10.5 
per  cent. 

Great  Britain  reached  its  maximum  between  1861 
and  1870,  when  the  percentage  was  26.2.  In  the  last 
decade  it  had  fallen  to  7.4.  The  emigrants  from  Scan- 
dinavia, Germany,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  includ- 
ing those  from  Canada  and  Newfoundland,  amounted 
to  74.3  per  cent,  of  the  nineteen  millions  of  emigrants 
who  settled  in  America  in  the  last  eighty  years ;  but 
between  1850  and  1860  they  contributed  91.2  per  cent, 
to  the  total,  and  in  1890-1900  their  proportion  had 
fallen  to  40.4  per  cent. 

The  emigration  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe 
may  be  said  only  to  have  begun  in  1880.  But  the 

153 


American  Ingredients 

number  increased  so  rapidly  that  in  the  last  decade  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, Italy,  Russia,  and  Poland  contributed 
50.1  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  emigrants.  The 
number  of  emigrants  arriving  in  the  United  States 
has  shown  a  tendency  of  late  to  decrease.  It  reached 
its  maximum  in  the  year  1882,  when  no  fewer  than 
788,992  emigrants  entered  the  Union.  From  that  year 
the  figures  dropped  until  1886,  when  they  numbered 
only  334,203.  The  fluctuations  were  very  great.  In 
1892  they  had  risen  to  623,084;  in  1898  they  had  fallen 
to  229,299.  Since  then  they  had  begun  to  climb  up 
again,  and  in  the  year  ending  June  3oth,  1900,  the 
total  number  of  emigrants  was  448,572.  Of  this 
number  only  2,392  belonged  to  the  professional  classes ; 
61,443  were  skilled  laborers;  163,508  were  laborers; 
while  the  remainder,  chiefly  women  and  children,  134,- 
941,  had  no  specified  occupation. 

Almost  all  these  emigrants  go  to  the  North  and 
West.  At  the  last  census  the  proportion  of  foreign- 
born  in  the  Southern  States  was  less  than  5  per  cent. 
This  contrasts  very  much  with  the  returns  from  other 
States.  Rhode  Island  had  31.4;  North  Dakota,  35.4; 
Montana,  27.6;  Colorado,  16.9;  Nebraska,  16.6  of  the 
foreign-born. 

Of  the  448,000  immigrants  into  the  United  States, 
last  year,  300,000  came  from  Austria-Hungary,  Italy, 
and  Russia.  Of  the  total  number  of  immigrants,  one- 
quarter  came  from  Germany,  one-fifth  from  Ireland, 
15  per  cent,  from  England,  6  per  cent,  from  Sweden 
and  Norway.  It  is  estimated  that  the  number  of  Ger- 
mans in  the  United  States  was  close  upon  ten  millions, 
(54 


Refractory  Elements 

of  whom  three  millions  were  born  in  Germany,  and 
the  rest  of  German  parentage.  It  sounds  like  a  far- 
away dream  of  the  past  to  recall  the  fact  that  sixty 
years  ago,  at  the  time  when  the  future  destiny  of  Texas 
was  not  finally  fixed,  German  dreamers  maintained  that 
it  might  be  possible  to  build  up  a  German  state  in 
Texas  which  might  permanently  divide  North  America 
with  the  dominant  Anglo-Saxon. 

The  most  difficult  ingredient  in  the  crucible,  the 
one  which  has  hitherto  proved  most  refractory,  is  the 
black  population  of  the  South.  The  census  of  1900 
showed  the  colored  population  to  number  9,312,585. 
Of  these  8,840,789  were  negroes,  the  others  being  about 
250,000  Indians,  119,000  Chinese,  and  about  86,000 
Japanese.  The  increase  of  the  negroes  did  not  quite 
keep  pace  with  that  of  the  white  population,  which 
is  probably  due  entirely  to  the  fact  that  there  were  no 
negro  immigrants  into  the  United  States  since  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  In  1890,  the  blacks 
were  12.5  per  cent,  of  the  population,  in  1900  they 
were  12.2.  These  refractory  substances  often  contain 
within  themselves  elements  of  great  value  necessary 
for  the  formation  of  a  perfect  blend.  The  American 
recoils  from  the  thought  of  miscegenation.  But  if 
the  tendency  of  the  climate  and  the  habit  of  life  is  to 
attenuate  the  physical  frame  and  burn  up  the  nervous 
vitality  of  the  race,  it  is  obvious  that  the  nine  million 
negroes  afford  an  element  of  robust  animal  vigor 
which  may  yet  stand  in  good  stead  if  the  process  of 
assimilation  could  be  rendered  less  unpleasant. 

The  education  of  the  negro  race,  taken  in  hand  so 

J55 


The  Colored  Problem 

admirably  by  Booker  Washington,  who,  in  founding 
Tuskegee  College,  has  shown  a  rare  combination  of 
science  and  common  sense,  will  render  the  process 
less  intolerable  than  it  appears  at  present.  But 
the  outcry  by  the  southern  press  when  President 
Roosevelt  invited  Booker  Washington  to  dine  at  the 
White  House  was  an  unpleasant  reminder  of  the  in- 
tensity of  race  prejudice,  while  the  continual  occur- 
rence of  lynchings  shows  that  considerable  progress 
has  yet  to  be  made  before  the  Americans  can  see  their 
way  to  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  negro  problem. 
In  the  last  twenty  years  over  3,000  lynchings  have 
taken  place  in  the  United  States,  the  highest  total 
being  236  in  1892.  In  1900  the  figure  had  fallen  to 

US- 
It  is  not  true,  as  is  generally  asserted,  that  the 
majority  of  lynchings  occur  to  avenge  assaults  or  out- 
rages by  black  men  upon  white  women.  In  the  last 
sixteen  years  2,516  lynchings  are  reported.  In  fewer 
than  800  of  these  was  an  assault  upon  women  alleged 
as  the  excuse.  The  chief  causes  for  which  negroes 
were  lynched  or  murdered  was  attempted  murder,  but 
115  were  lynched  for  horse  stealing  and  93  for  arson. 
However  painful  these  crimes  of  violence  may  be  they 
are  comparatively  few  in  number;  100  lynchings 
among  9,000,000  negroes  is  a  blot  on  the  sun,  no 
doubt,  but  it  is  not  an  eclipse. 

The  political  effect  of  this  vast  foreign  element, 
whether  black  or  white,  in  the  United  States,  upon 
the  race  alliance  of  the  English-speaking  peoples  has 
naturally  attracted  considerable  attention.  The  pres- 

J56 


Learning  the  Language 

ent  Duke  of  Argyle  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  features 
which  would  tend  to  promote  such  an  alliance.  Writ- 
ing in  the  North  American  Review  in  October,  1893, 
he  laid  considerable  stress  upon  the  advantage  which 
it  would  be  to  the  United  States  to  have  the  sym- 
pathy of  a  sound,  strong  English  confederation  in 
league  with  the  Union. 

He  wrote  "as  the  foreign  element,  Italian  or  Ger- 
man or  French  Canadian,  gets  stronger  and  more 
segregated  in  special  states  in  the  Union,  it  is  quite 
conceivable  that  race  or  national  questions  under  some 
specious  name  may  cause  trouble,  and  that  the  'na- 
tional' population  may  live  to  hoist  the  tricolor  or  some 
other  foreign  flag  in  preference  to  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  The  French  in  the  northeast  might  well 
form  such  a  national  cave  of  Adullam.  Then  how 
about  the  foreign  elements  in  the  South,  half  Congo, 
half  Creole?  These  things  may  be  out  of  sight  for  the 
present,  but  the  present  becomes  the  distant  past  very 
soon  in  politics,  and  an  English  bund  is  not  a  bad 
antidote  to  certain  schemes  and  dreams  which  are 
very  un-English,  using  that  adjective  in  its  best  sense." 

The  tendency  of  foreign  populations  to  become 
centred  in  certain  districts  is  probably  a  temporary 
phenomenon.  There  are  quarters  in  New  York  and 
Chicago  where  the  English  language  is  hardly  known. 

There  is  an  anecdote  told  of  a  foreign  immigrant, 
who,  having  settled  in  New  York,  applied  herself  dili- 
gently to  learning  what  she  imagined  to  be  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  in  which  she  had  settled,  and  it 
was  only  after  she  had  removed  to  another  precinct 

J57 


No  English  Allowed 

that  she  learned  to  her  chagrin  that  she  had  wasted 
all  her  pains  in  learning  a  Bohemian  dialect,  which, 
as  it  was  the  only  language  spoken  in  her  street,  she 
had  mistaken  for  the  American  tongue. 

In  all  the  great  sfates,  however,  the  work  of  fusing 
the  various  nationalities  into  one  homogeneous  whole 
is  carried  on  steadily,  though  not  at  such  high  pres- 
sure, even  in  the  country  districts  where  it  is  still  pos- 
sible for  aliens  to  preserve  the  language,  religion,  and 
customs  of  their  fatherland. 

Mr.  Rodney  Walsh,  who  contributed  an  article  to 
the  Forum  for  Feburary,  1891,  on  "The  Farmer's 
Changed  Condition,"  declared  that  in  entire  counties 
in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  the  English  language  is 
scarcely  ever  heard  outside  the  great  towns.  The 
church  services  are  conducted  in  a  foreign  tongue, 
and  instruction  is  given  in  it  at  the  schools.  Mr. 
Babcock,  writing  on  "The  Scandinavians  in  the  North- 
west" a  year  later,  said :  "You  can  travel  300  miles 
across  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota  without  once) 
leaving  land  owned  by  Scandinavians.  In  Minne- 
sota one-seventh  of  the  legislators  are  Scandinavians, 
and  there  are  thirty-seven  Scandinavian  newspapers." 
But  one  of  the  most  remarkable  testimonies  as  to  the 
extent  to  which  the  United  States  have  been  Euro- 
peanized  reached  me  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  from 
Galveston  in  Texas  in  1891. 

The  writer,  Mr.  E.  J.  Coyle,  wrote :  "Don't  believe 
for  a  moment  that  twenty-five  of  our  citizens  are  of 
British  or  Saxon  origin,  or  of  English-speaking  sym-j 
pathies,   for  they   are  not.     Take    for   example   this 
158 


Polyglot  Colonization 

Latin-American  province,  Texas,  or  California,  Ari- 
zona or  any  of  the  new  lands  ceded  by  the  Guadalope- 
Hidalgo  treaty,  and  has  the  Englishman  a  foothold? 
Thank  God,  no.  New  Braunfells,  Comal  County,  one 
of  our  most  successful  German  Colonies,  located  in 
1840,  has  never  recognized  an  English  journal  in  its 
midst.  The  children  of  the  second  generation  speak 
the  language  of  Goethe.  I  can  take  you  to  five 
thousand  post-offices,  schools,  and  courts  of  justice 
in  our  state  where  Spanish,  German,  and  Bohemian 
are  exclusively  used — in  fact,  the  official  language. 
Galveston,  with  a  population  of  fifty  thousand,  can- 
not muster  a  corporal's  squad  of  Americans  of 
English-speaking  origin ;  the  same  can  be  said  of  all 
our  great  western  cities.  The  day  of  the  English- 
speaking  people  here  is  gone,  and  it  will  never  re- 
dawn."  It  would  be  interesting  to  compare  this  con- 
fident prediction  of  ten  years  ago  with  the  present  state 
of  things  in  Texas. 

That  there  may  be  in  various  parts  of  the 
American  union  communities  which  preserve  their 
ancient  language  with  the  zeal  of  the  Welsh  or  of 
the  Scottish  Highlanders  may  be  true,  but  the  only 
effect  of  this  will  be  to  increase  the  number  of  bi- 
lingual people  in  the  United  States.  It  is  even  pos- 
sible that  a  nationality  which  has  allowed  its  language 
to  fall  into  disuse  in  its  native  land  may  regain  its 
vigor  and  vitality  by  being  transported  to  the  United 
States. 

The  movement  for  reviving  the  use  and  the  study 
of  the  ancient  Irish  language  is  much  more  vigorous 


The  Indispensable  Language 

in  the  United  States  than  in  Ireland  itself.  News- 
papers printed  in  Irish  are  produced,  circulated 
and  read  in  America  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
any  similar  publications  in  Ireland.  The  attempt  to 
boycott  the  English  language  in  some  American 
schools  has  been  carried  to  considerable  lengths,  but 
even  in  places  like  Milwaukee  and  other  foreign  settle- 
ments in  the  Northwest  it  is  found  impossible  to  pre- 
vent the  children  learning  English.  They  pick  it  up 
in  the  playground,  and  as  English  is,  and  is  likely  to 
remain,  the  lingua  franca  of  the  continent,  the  com- 
mercial advantages  of  acquiring  the  English  tongue 
are  far  too  great  not  to  be  appreciated  by  the  shrewd 
citizens  of  the  Republic. 

What  type  will  ultimately  issue  from  this  crucible 
of  the  nations  it  is  yet  too  early  to  predict.  Into  the 
crucible  all  the  nations  have  cast  of  their  best,  and  it 
would  be  a  sore  disappointment  if  this  vast  experiment 
in  nation-making  did  not  yield  a  result  commensurate 
with  the  immensity  of  the  crucible  and  the  richness  of 
the  material  cast  therein. 


160 


The  Americanization 
of  the  World 

* 

Part  Two 

The  Rest  of  the  World 

Chapter  First 

Europe 

IF  we  in  England,  who  from  the  point  of  view  o£ 
politics  and  religion  are  much  more  American  than  we 
are  Anglican,  contemplate  with  satisfaction  and  evert 
with  enthusiasm  the  Americanization  of  the  world, 
the  process  is  naturally  regarded  with  very  different 
sentiments  in  other  quarters.  Even  Anglican  Eng- 
lishmen can  hardly  refrain  from  a  certain  feeling  01 
national  pride  when  they  see  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  subjected  to  the  subtle  and  penetrating  influ- 
ence of  ideas  which  are  at  least  conveyed  in  English 
speech,  and  which  may  in  some  cases  be  traced  back 
to  the  days  of  the  English  Commonwealth. 

As  Macaulay  pointed  out,  even  the  Cavaliers  them- 
selves could  hardly  refrain,  from  exulting  at  the 


Europe's  Attitude 

thought  of  the  pinnacle  of  greatness  to  which  the 
armies  of  the  Ironsides  and  the  exploits  of  Blake  and 
his  captains  raised  the  reputation  of  England  in  the 
days  of  Cromwell.  And  so  in  like  manner  even  those 
Anglican  Englishmen  who  find  themselves  reduced 
from  a  position  of  pre-eminence  to  that  of  a  minority, 
swept  irresistibly  forward  by  the  strong  democratic 
currents  which  sway  the  English-speaking  world,  can- 
not altogether  repress  a  sense  of  exultant  pride  that 
the  men  who  have  sprung  from  the  loins  of  the  Com- 
monwealth should  be  so  powerfully  moulding  the 
destinies  of  the  world.  The  Anglicans  are  in  the 
movement,  they  are  not  of  it.  Nevertheless,  after  all, 
blood  is  thicker  than  water,  and  the  men 

"  Who   speak  the  tongue  that   Shakespeare   spake, 
The  faith  and  morals  hold  which  Milton  held," 

can  never  be  severed  by  difference  of  political  alle- 
giance from  the  common  stock  of  our  common  race. 

No  such  consolation,  however,  is  vouchsafed  to  the 
nations  of  Europe,  who  find  themselves  subjected, 
against  their  will  and  without  their  leave  being  asked 
or  obtained,  to  the  process  of  Americanization.  That 
the  process  is  beneficial,  that  they  will  be  better  for 
the  treatment,  may  be  true ;  but  they  do  not  see  it. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  well  to  discriminate  between 
Europe  and  the  Europeans  that  therein  do  dwell.  To 
the  majority  of  the  Europeans  the  American  invasion 
is  by  no  means  unwelcome,  while  a  very  large  section 
would  delight  to  see  a  much  greater  Americanization 
of  Europe  than  anything  which  is  likely  to  take  place. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  sovereigns  and  nobles,  who 
162 


Europe's  Attitude 

represent  feudalism  and  the  Old  World  monarchical 
and  aristocratic  ideas  which  have  as  their  European 
centre  the  Courts  of  Berlin  and  Vienna.  In  Europe, 
France  and  Switzerland  are  already  republican.  Bel- 
gium, Holland,  and  the  Scandinavian  countries,  while 
monarchical  in  form,  are  republican  in  essence.  The 
Spanish  Government  may  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
annex  of  the  Hapsburgs,  while  the  Italian  monarchy 
is  a  southern  buttress  of  the  Austro-German  Alliance. 
Russia  stands  apart,  a  world  in  itself,  perhaps  the  most 
democratic  country  in  Europe,  consisting  as  it  does 
of  one  vast  congeries  of  communes,  which  are  little  re- 
publics under  the  supreme  direction  of  a  central  autoc- 
racy. The  Emperor  of  Russia,  however,  the  mon- 
arch of  right  divine,  solemnly  consecrated  to  be  guide 
and  governor  of  his  people  when  crowned  at  the  Krem- 
lin, has,  no  doubt,  many  sympathies  in  common  with 
the  other  sovereigns  of  Europe;  but  the  Tsars  of 
to-day  do  not  aspire  to  fill  the  role  of  the  Tsars  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  In  those  days 
first  Alexander  and  then  Nicholas  believed  that  the  de- 
fence of  the  monarchical  principle  was  one  of  the  most 
sacred  of  their  duties — a  conviction  to  which  the  Holy 
Alliance  gave  vigorous  expression.  The  Holy  Al- 
liance has  long  since  passed  away,  leaving  behind  it 
as  its  chief  result  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  promul- 
gation of  which  was  suggested  by  Canning  to  Presi- 
dent Monroe  as  the  most  effective  answer  to  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  allied  sovereigns  of  Central  Europe. 
The  centre  of  resistance  to  American  principles  in 
Europe  lies  at  Berlin,  and  the  leader  against  and  great 

M3 


German  Appreciation 

protagonist  of  Americanization  is  the  Kaiser  of  Ger- 
many. There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  heroic  pose 
of  the  German  Emperor  resisting  the  American  flood, 
ft  is  Canute  over  again,  but  the  Kaiser  has  not  planted 
himself  on  the  shore,  passively  to  wait  the  rising  of 
the  tide  in  order  to  rebuke  the  flattery  of  his  courtiers ; 
he  takes  his  stand  where  land  and  water  meet,  and  with 
drawn  sword  defies  the  advancing  tide.  And  all  the 
while  the  water  is  percolating  through  the  sand  on 
which  he  is  standing,  undermining  the  very  foundations 
upon  which  his  feet  are  planted,  so  that  he  himself  is 
driven  to  Americanize,  even  when  he  is  resisting  Amer- 
icanization. 

There  are  no  more  Americanized  cities  in  Europe 
than  Hamburg  and  Berlin.  They  are  American  in 
the  rapidity  of  their  growth,  American  in  their 
nervous  energy,  American  in  their  quick  appropriation 
of  the  facilities  for  rapid  transport.  Americans  find 
themselves  much  more  at  home,  notwithstanding  the 
differences  of  language,  in  the  feverish  concentrated 
energy  of  the  life  of  Hamburg  and  Berlin  than  in  the 
more  staid  and  conservative  cities  of  Liverpool  and 
London.  The  German  manufacturer,  the  German 
shipbuilder,  the  German  engineer,  are  quick  to  seize 
and  use  the  latest  American  machines.  The  American 
typewriter  is  supreme  in  Germany  as  in  Britain,  and 
what  is  much  more  important  than  this,  the  American 
farmer  continues  to  raise  bread  and  bacon  in  increasing 
quantities  for  the  German  breakfast  table. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  material  things  that  the  substance 
of  American  manufactures  enters  into  the  fabric  of 
164 


The  Hyphenated  American 

modern  Germany.  The  constant  flow  of  German  emi- 
gration to  the  United  States  of  America  has  created  a 
German-American,  whose  influence  upon  the  relatives 
whom  he  left  behind  in  the  fatherland  is  somewhat 
analogous  to  the  influence  of  the  Irish- American  upon 
the  Irish  in  Ireland.  The  German-Americans,  like 
the  Irish-Americans,  are  passionately  patriotic,  with  a 
dual  patriotism.  They  are  intensely  Republican;  the 
hyphenated  American,  as  he  is  called,  has  shown  a 
readiness  to  shed  his  blood  and  sacrifice  himself  in  the 
service  of  his  adopted  country  equal  to  that  of  any 
native  born  of  the  States.  But  at  the  same  time  his 
romantic  devotion  to  the  country  from  which  he  sprang 
is  not  impaired  by  his  allegiance  to  the  State  in  which 
he  has  found  a  home.  But  this  intense  and  idealized 
devotion  to  a  motherland  is  quite  compatible,  as  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Irish  shows,  with  an  absolute  indiffer- 
ence to  and  even  positive  dislike  of  the  political  system 
which,  for  the  time  being,  afflicts  the  old  folks  at 
home.  The  German-American  differentiates  between 
the  Fatherland  and  the  Kaiser,  and  therein  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Court  commits  unpardonable  sin.  To  identify 
the  Emperor  with  the  Empire,  to  render  it  impossible 
for  any  German  to  think  of  Germany  without"  at  the 
same  time  doing  homage  to  the  German  Emperor,  is 
one  of  the  preoccupations  of  William  II. 

But  the  German- Americans  have  escaped  beyond  the 
glamor  of  his  personality.  They  are  the  men  of  Ger- 
many, but  they  are  not  the  men  of  the  Kaiser.  Their 
influence  on  the  German  electorate  is  an  American  in- 
fluence, which  tells  much  more  in  the  direction  of  the 

165 


Transmutation  of  Nationality 

Social  Democrats  than  of  the  Junker  Party,  who  con 
stitute  the  stern  men-at-arms  of  the  Prussian  Mon 
archy.  It  would  be  an  interesting  study  to  investigate 
how  far  the  Social  Democratic  movement  in  Germany 
is  fed  as  by  secret  springs  from  across  the  Atlantic 
The  connection  is  not  by  any  means  so  obvious  as  tha 
which  binds  together  the  Irish-Americans  and  the  Irish 
National  League ;  but  there  is  a  constant  movement  o 
men  and  of  ideas  between  the  Social  Democratic  Part; 
in  Germany  and  the  German  electorate  in  the  Unitec 
States. 

Against  all  these  influences  the  Kaiser  wages  desper 
ate  but  unavailing  war.  In  resisting  the  Americaniza 
tion  of  Germany,  his  first  aim  has  naturally  been  to  pre 
vent  the  Americanization  of  the  Germans  who  leave 
Germany.  The  ceaseless  tide  of  emigration  which 
sets  westward  from  German  shores  flows  for  the  most 
part  to  New  York,  the  European  gate  of  the  American 
Continent.  When  once  the  German  passes  Bartholdi's 
statue  of  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,  he  is  los 
to  the  German  Empire.  He  may  remain  a  German  for 
a  generation  or  two,  cherishing  his  language,  cultivat- 
ing the  literature  of  his  country,  but  in  ten  years  hii 
children  have  picked  up  English,  and  in  fifty  year! 
nothing  but  the  name  and  family  tradition  remain  t( 
connect  them  with  the  Fatherland.  Their  descendants 
are  no  more  Germans  than  President  Roosevelt  is  a 
Dutchman. 

To  arrest  this  process  of  the  thorough  American- 
ization, appropriation,  and  from  his  point  of  view  the 
absolute  effacement  of  German  citizens,  the  Emperor 

166 


Greater  Germany 

has  sought  to  deflect  the  tide  of  German  emigration 
to  German  colonies  which  he  has  acquired,  and  which 
he  has  subsidized  regardless  of  expense  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  But  the  German  who  has  once 
made  up  his  mind  to  turn  his  back  upon  the  home  of 
his  race,  is  singularly  impervious  to  the  charms  of 
Damoraland  or  the  fascinations  of  German  East  Africa. 
The  Kaiser  can  export  officials  where  he  pleases,  but 
the  tide  of  German  emigration,  like  the  wind,  goeth 
where  it  listeth. 

A  despairing  attempt  is  now  being  made  to  turn  the 
tide  of  German  emigration  from  North  to  South  Amer- 
ica. The  German  Colonial  Party  imagine  that  by 
creating  great  German  colonies  in  Brazil,  it  may  be 
possible  to  build  up  a  greater  Germany  in  the  Southern 
Continent,  where  the  German  Empire  may  preserve 
intact  from  Americanism  millions  of  German  citizens. 
The  experiment  has  not  yet  been  abandoned,  but  South 
Americans  say  that  the  process  of  Americanization  is 
not  less  speedy  in  Brazil.  The  German  shows  the  same 
readiness  to  adapt  himself  to  his  local  environment  and 
to  acquire  the  language  of  his  adopted  country  whether 
that  environment  is  English  or  Portuguese.  The  only 
result  which  has  so  far  attended  the  attempt  to  deflect 
German  emigration  to  Brazil  has  been  to  give  a  sharper 
edge  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  to  strengthen  the 
determination  of  the  Government  at  Washington  to 
build  an  American  navy  adequate  to  enforce  the  Amer- 
ican veto  upon  European  conquest  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

Compelled  to  admit  failure  in  his  attempt  to  prevent 

167 


Goluchowski's  Alarm 

the  Americanization  of  Germans  outside  Germany,  the 
Emperor  has  redoubled  his  efforts  in  order  to  prevent 
the  Americanization  of  Europe.  This  has  been  a  fixed 
idea  with  him  ever  since  he  came  to  the  throne.  On  his 
first  visit  to  the  Tsar^of  Russia,  he  propounded  to  him 
his  favorite  thesis,  and  endeavored  to  enlist  the  Tsar's 
support  in  the  holy  cause  of  anti-Americanism.  Nich- 
olas II.  listened  with  a  sympathetic  interest,  which  is 
natural  to  him  in  talking  to  all  men,  whether  moujiks 
or  Kaisers,  but  he  did  not  see  his  way  to  fall  in  with  his 
guest's  idea. 

The  Kaiser,  behind  his  apparent  impulsiveness,  is 
tenacious  in  pursuing  his  objects.  Foiled  in  his  first 
essay  to  win  over  the  Tsar  to  a  great  European  com- 
bination to  organize  the  Old  World  against  the  New, 
he  did  not  on  that  account  abandon  his  favorite  project. 
The  duty  of  first  publicly  proclaiming  in  the  hearing 
of  the  world  the  doctrine  which  the  Kaiser  had  privately 
endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  Tsar  fell  upon  Count 
Goluchowski,  the  Foreign  Secretary  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary. Addressing  the  Parliamentary  Delegations  in 
November,  1897,  he  pleaded  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
adoption  of  a  pacific  policy  in  Europe  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  the  very  existence  of  the  European 
peoples  depended  upon  their  power  to  defend  them- 
selves, fighting  shoulder  to  shoulder,  against  Trans- 
oceanic competition.  He  foreshadowed  the  adoption 
of  counteracting  measures,  which  he  declared  must  be 
prompt  and  thorough  in  order  to  protect  the  vital  inter- 
ests of  the  European  nations.  Count  Goluchowski's 
alarming  summons  to  the  Old  World  excited  consider- 
168 


Germany  Dependent 

able  discussion,  but  led  to  no  definite  result  for  some 
years.  Meantime  the  Kaiser  continued  to  look  with 
grave  misgiving  upon  the  increasing  dependency  of 
his  people  upon  American  foodstuffs. 

In  the  year  1900  the  exports  from  the  United  States 
to  Germany  were  larger  than  those  of  any  other 
country,  the  figures  being  in  round  numbers,  from  the 
United  States  $243,000,000;  from  Great  Britain, 
$200,000,000;  from  Russia,  $171,000,000;  from  Aus- 
tria, $172,000,000;  from  South  America,  $115,000,000. 
In  1891  the  United  States  were  third  on  the  list,  but  in 
ten  years  she  had  distanced  all  competitors,  and  was 
easily  first. 

Germany  can  no  longer  feed  her  population  with  her 
own  foodstuffs — a  fact  which  is  of  vital  importance 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  possible  war.  In  1900  she 
had  to  import  close  upon  1,000,000  tons  of  wheat  and 
800,000  tons  of  rye.  The  population  of  Germany 
stands  now  at  about  60,000,000.  Tsking,  therefore, 
the  staples  of  life,  wheat  and  rye  alone,  nine  millions 
of  Germans  would  starve  unless  the  insufficient  yield 
of  German  farms  were  supplemented  by  the  importa- 
tion of  foodstuffs,  which  in  the  next  twelve  months  it 
is  estimated  will  entail  an  expenditure  of  $100,000,000; 
or,  in  other  words,  all  Germany  would  be  without  food 
for  fifty-five  days  in  the  year  but  for  imports  from 
abroad. 

This  dependence  upon  the  foreigner,  especially 
upon  American  food,  is  very  distasteful  to  the 
Kaiser.  Of  the  $1,438,000,000  worth  of  goods  im- 
ported into  Germany  in  the  year  1900,  $287,000,000 

J69 


An  Anglo-German  Alliance 

came  from  Great  Britain,  $243,000,000  from  the  United 
States,  and  $115,000,000  from  South  America.  So 
that  very  nearly  one-half  the  total  imports  into  Ger- 
many came  either  from  the  New  World  or  from  the 
British  Empire.  The  dependence  of  Germany  for  her 
daily  bread  on  shipments  from  over-sea  contributed 
greatly  to  strengthen  the  Kaiser's  decision  to  double 
the  German  navy.  "Our  future,"  he  declared,  "lies 
upon  the  sea."  The  decision  to  double  the  strength  of 
the  German  fighting  fleet  was  significantly  proclaimed 
in  the  ears  of  the  world  immediately  after  the  three- 
fold defeat  of  British  arms  in  South  Africa  had  severely 
shaken  our  prestige.  That  the  new  shipbuilding  policy 
then  announced  by  Germany  was  aimed  against  Great 
Britain  was  generally  recognized  abroad ;  but  when  the 
German  Emperor  visited  London  shortly  afterwards 
he  had  a  very  different  explanation  to  give  of  the  in- 
crease of  the  German  fleet.  So  far  from  being  a 
menace  to  Great  Britain,  he  is  said  to  have  protested, 
he  regarded  every  new  ship  added  to  the  German  navy 
as  an  addition  to  the  fighting  force  of  the  British 
fleet.  For,  he  argued,  it  was  inevitable  that  the  United 
States,  sooner  or  later  would  endeavor  to  grasp  the 
supreme  position  on  the  sea  at  present  held  by  Great 
Britain. 

When  that  day  came  Great  Britain  would  find 
in  the  German  Fleet  her  most  potent  ally.  The 
nations  of  the  Old  World,  representing  culture  and 
civilization,  would  have  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder 
in  resisting  the  contemplated  attack  of  the  new  barba- 
rians of  the  Western  World,  who,  swollen  by  prosperity 
J70 


A  Royal  Interview 

and  pride  and  unweighted  by  any  of  the  responsibilities 
which  enforce  caution  on  other  States,  would  inevitably 
come  into  collision  sooner  or  later  with  the  present 
Mistress  of  the  Seas. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  this  pretext,  it  was  an  in- 
genious piece  of  special  pleading,  and  it  helped  him  to 
gloss  over  the  ugly  significance  of  his  naval  pro- 
gramme. After  the  departure  of  the  Kaiser  from  Eng- 
land little  was  heard  of  his  anti-American  views  until 
last  July,  when  M.  Pierre  de  Segur  was  entertained 
by  the  Kaiser,  along  with  other  French  tourists,  on 
board  the  Hohenzollern  when  it  was  in  Norwegian 
waters. 

The  interview  seems  to  have  been  purely  accidental. 
M.  de  Segur  and  his  compagnons  de  voyage  were 
visiting  one  of  the  Norwegian  fiords  when  they 
came  across  the  Imperial  yacht,  Hohenzollern.  The 
Emperor  asked  them  to  dine  on  board,  and  after 
marshalling  his  •  guests,  as  a  Commander-in-Chief 
would  marshal  an  Army  Corps,  with  the  voice  and 
gestures  of  an  officer  on  the  parade-ground,  he  entered 
into  animated  conversation  with  them,  in  which  he  ap- 
pears to  have  expressed  himself  with  a  degree  of  free- 
dom unwonted  even  for  him.  His  conversation  with 
his  French  guests,  wrote  M.  de  Segur  in  the  Revue  de 
Paris,  was  chiefly  about  the  United  States  of  America. 
He  evinces  but  slight  enthusiasm  for  that  country.  To 
him  there  is  a  menace  for  the  future  in  the  colossal 
Trusts  so  dear  to  the  Yankee  millionaire,  which  tend 
to  place  an  industry  or  an  international  exchange  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  individual  or  a  group  of  individuals. 


The  Kaiser's  Opinion 

"Suppose,"  he  said,  in  substance,  "that  a  Morgan 
succeeds  in  combining  under  his  flag  several  of  the 
oceanic  lines.  He  does  not  occupy  any  official  position 
in  his  country  outside  of  the  influence  derived  from 
his  wealth.  It  would,  therefore,  be  impossible  to  treat 
with  him  if  it  should  happen  that  an  international  in- 
cident or  a  foreign  power  were  involved  in  his  enter- 
prise. And  neither  would  it  be  possible  to  have  re- 
course to  the  State,  which  having  no  part  in  the  busi- 
ness could  decline  any  responsibility.  Then  to  whom 
could  one  turn?  To  obviate  this  danger  the  Kaiser 
foresees  the  necessity  of  forming  a  European  Cus- 
toms Union  against  the  United  States  on  similar  lines 
to  the  Continental  blockade  devised  by  Napoleon 
against  England,  in  order  to  safeguard  the  interests 
and  assure  the  freedom  of  Continental  commerce  at 
the  expense  of  America's  development.  And  he  de- 
clared to  us  without  circumlocution  that,  in  such  an 
eventuality,  England  would  be  forced  to  choose  the  al- 
ternative of  two  absolutely  opposite  policies :  either  to 
adhere  to  the  blockade  and  place  herself  on  the  side 
of  Europe  against  the  United  States,  or  else  to  join  the 
latter  against  the  Powers  of  the  Continent." 

So  remarkable  a  declaration,  even  when  published 
in  a  literary  and  political  organ  of  the  importance  of 
the  Revue  de  Paris,  was  naturally  received  with  scep- 
ticism, and  the  New  York  Herald  despatched  a  com- 
missioner to  Berlin  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the 
German  Government  was  prepared  to  disclaim,  contra- 
dict, or  explain  away  the  report  of  M.  de  Segur.  The 
American  Ambassador  in  Germany,  Dr.  Von  Holleben, 
172 


The  Voice  of  Esau 

professed  confidence  that  the  German  Foreign  Office 
could  easily  explain  away  the  alleged  utterances  of  the 
Kaiser ;  but  when  application  was  made  to  the  Foreign 
Office,  the  officials  could  only  say  that  the  matter  was 
one  entirely  personal  to  the  Kaiser. 

A  somewhat  interesting  interview  seems  to  have 
taken  place  between  the  representative  of  the  Foreign 
Office  and  the  Herald's  commissioner,  the  latter  naively 
remarking  that  the  German  official  gave  him  the  im- 
pression that  he  did  not  grasp  the  importance  of  pub- 
lic opinion  in  the  United  States,  but  did  deem  it  im- 
portant to  lay  down  with  some  emphasis  the  right  of 
Germany  to  interfere  in  South  American  affairs 
should  occasion  arise.  Whenever  any  of  the  southern 
republics  gave  offence  to  Germany,  said  the  Foreign 
Office  official,  that  country  would  send  her  warships 
there  to  exact  justice,  and  would  insist  upon  her 
right  so  to  act.  Being  reminded  that  this  was  not  the 
question  under  discussion,  he  answered  that  the  reply 
would  probably  be  forthcoming  from  higher  quarters. 

The  answer  came  in  the  shape  of  an  official  com- 
munication by  the  German  Ambassador  on  his  re- 
turn to  Washington  when  he  was  authorized  to 
declare  that  "All  talk  that  his  Majesty"  (the  Kaiser) 
"desires  to  bring  the  European  nations  together  in  a 
challenge  of  America's  progress  in  the  commercial 
world  is  without  foundation.  My  sovereign,"  the  Am- 
bassador said,  "has  the  most  frank  admiration  for 
America's  progress  and  the  most  cordial  and  friendly 
feelings  for  the  United  States.  His  Majesty  has 
shown  once  more  how  he  appreciates  American  skill 

J73 


The  American  Danger 

and  workmanship  in  having  a  yacht  built  in  the  United 
States."  Nevertheless  what  M.  de  Segur  says  coin- 
cides too  much  with  what  the  Emperor  is  known  to 
have  proposed  to  the  Tsar,  and  the  general  tenor  of  his 
conversation  in  this*  country,  for  us  to  have  much 
reason  to  regard  the  French  author's  report  as  in- 
correct. 

The  reference  to  Mr.  Morgan  and  the  consolidation 
of  industries  under  the  Trust  system  only  indicates 
that  the  Emperor  is  keen  to  snatch  at  any  and  every 
development  of  American  enterprise  or  American  am- 
bition in  order  to  emphasize  the  reality  of  the  Amer- 
ican danger,  to  insist  upon  the  necessity  of  concerted 
European  action.  When  he  was  in  London  the  talk 
was  not  of  offering  England  the  alternative  to  join  in 
the  European  blockade  of  the  United  States,  or  to  be 
herself  subjected  to  the  pains  and  penalties  of  a  finan- 
cial war.  When  he  was  here  his  talk  was  all  about 
the  probable  attack  by  the  United  States  upon  the 
naval  supremacy  of  Great  Britain.  But  in  his  con- 
versation upon  the  Hohenzollern  he  appears  to  have 
harped  back  to  the  idea  which  he  propounded  in  St. 
Petersburg,  and  which  inspired  Count  Goluchowski 
with  the  idea  of  taking  counteracting  measures  to  safe- 
guard the  vital  interests  of  European  industry.  Since 
that  time  the  Germans  and  Austrians  have  been  busily 
engaged  in  discussing  what  measures  they  ought  to 
adopt. 

That  something  should  be  done  seems  to  be  taken 
for  granted.  On  the  23rd  of  October,  1901,  the 
representatives  of  industry  and  agriculture  in  Austria 
J74 


A  Protective  Programme 

held  an  important  meeting,  under  the  benediction  of 
the  Austrian  Government,  for  the  purpose  of  consider- 
ing the  most  effective  means  of  averting  the  danger 
of  American  competition  in  all  branches  of  production. 
Dr.  Peetz  declared  that  the  United  States  were  aiming 
at  universal  economic  supremacy;  that  Austria-Hun- 
gary must,  therefore,  in  all  circumstances  secure  the 
home  market  for  native  industry  and  agriculture,  while 
maintaining  as  far  as  possible  the  openings  for  export. 
After  a  good  deal  of  vigorous  oratory,  in  which  Amer- 
ican economic  methods  were  somewhat  severely  de- 
nounced, a  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted  which 
contained  the  following  four  specific  recommenda- 
tion:— "(i.)  That  there  should  be  a  complete  revi- 
sion of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Customs  tariff  on  the 
lines  laid  down  by  Germany,  in  order  to  afford  equal, 
effective,  and  permanent  protection  to  industry  and 
agriculture.  (2.)  That  a  reciprocity  arrangement 
should  be  substituted  for  the  general  application  of 
the  most-favored-nation  clause  in  future  commercial 
treaties.  (3.)  That  while  treaties  for  longer  periods 
may  be  concluded  with  other  countries  when  they 
afford  adequate  protection  to  native  production  and  ex- 
port trade,  those  with  the  United  States  and  the  Ar- 
gentine Confederation  should  only  be  for  short  terms. 
(4.)  That  the  Central  European  States  should  enter 
into  an  agreement  for  mutual  protection  against  trans- 
oceanic competition." 

Austria,  it  was  declared  by  the  semi-official  Frem- 
denblatt,  was  the  youngest  and  weakest  of  the  indus- 
trial States,  and  as  such  suffered  more  from  Amer- 

J75 


Europe  for  the  Europeans 

ican  competition  than  any  of  her  neighbors.  The 
watchword  "America  for  the  Americans"  must  be 
answered  by  the  rallying  cry  "Europe  for  the  Euro- 
peans," said  the  Fremdenblatt.  "Africa  and  Asia  con- 
stitute the  European,  reserves,  and  we  shall  know  how 
to  defend  ourselves,  but  we  must  set  about  it  in  time 
and  make  a  beginning." 

In  Berlin  the  German  Industrial  Union  have  ex- 
pressed through  their  Secretary,  Dr.  Willielm  Vend- 
landt,  their  views  upon  the  subject.  He  declared  that 
the  time  had  come  for  some  Bismarck  to  rise  up  anc 
assemble  the  nations  of  Europe  and  throttle  the  Amer- 
ican peril.  Europe,  he  argued,  could  perfectly  wel 
be  independent  of  the  American  market.  Russia,  by 
developing  her  cotton  plantations  in  the  Caucasus 
had  finally  liberated  the  Old  World  from  dependence 
upon  the  New.  "I  believe,"  he  declared,  "in  fight- 
ing America  with  the  same  weapons  of  exclusion 
which  America  herself  has  used  so  remorselessly  anc 
so  successfully.  We  propose  to  work  for  an  all 
European  Union.  The  commercial  interests  of  the 
hour  are  paramount,  and  a  discriminatory  alliance  oi 
all  European  Powers,  including  England,  will  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  American  invasion." 

This  is  all  very  fine  and  large,  but  what  does  it 
come  to?  So  far  it  has  come  to  nothing.  The  self- 
sufficing  State  which  produces  everything  within  its 
own  frontiers  has  become  an  anachronism  in  the  mod- 
ern world.  Chinese  walls  of  prohibitive  tariffs  are 
futile  expedients.  No  doubt  America  will  find  that 
several  of  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  will  follow 
176 


Penalty  of  Pan-Europeanism 

her  example  and  quote  it  as  ample  justification  for 
an  attempt  to  discriminate  against  American  goods. 
Nothing  can  be  done  before  1903,  when  the  commer- 
cial treaties  will  come  up  for  revision,  and  before 
1903  a  good  many  things  may  happen.  But  although 
the  Governments  of  the  Old  World  may  compel  their 
subjects  to  pay  high  prices  for  goods  which  the  Amer- 
icans, if  left  unhindered,  would  supply  more  cheaply, 
they  will  thereby  increase  discontent  and  dissatis- 
faction, which  will  facilitate  the  Americanization  of 
lurope.  For  the  higher  the  tariff,  the  dearer  will  be 
bod.  Dear  food  means  misery  in  the  home.  Mis- 
ery in  the  home  means  discontent  in  the  electorate, 
and  discontent  in  the  electorate  means  the  increase 
)f  the  motive  force  which  will  seek  steadily  to  revolu- 
ionize  the  Old  World  governments  on  what  may 
>e  more  or  less  accurately  described  as  American 
>rinciples. 

Thus  the  action  of  the  Kaiser  and  the  Mrs.  Parting- 
ons  of  Vienna  is  even  more  futile  than  the  conduct 
)f  the  wise  men  of  Borrodaile,  who  built  a  wall  across 
he  mouth  of  their  pass  in  the  belief  that  they  could 
hereby  prevent  the  cuckoo  flying  away  with  the  sum- 
mer. Their  policy  exercised  no  influence  upon  the 
>rocession  of  the  seasons.  But  the  action  of  the  anti- 
American  Pan-Europeans  will  directly  accelerate  the 
>rocess  which  they  wish  to  retard. 

Reciprocity,  said  President  McKinley,  in  the  speech 
which  he  delivered  on  the  day  before  he  was  assassina- 
ed,  "reciprocity  is  the  natural  outcome  of  the  wonder- 
:ul  industrial  development  of  the  United  States  under 

J77 


Two  Kinds  of  Reciprocity 

the  policy  now  firmly  established.  If  perchance  some 
of  our  tariffs  are  no  longer  needed  for  revenue,  or  to 
encourage  or  protect  our  industries  at  home,  why 
should  they  not  be  employed  to  extend  and  promote 
our  markets  abroad?"  Three  days  previously  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  then  Vice-President,  speaking  at  Minne- 
apolis, declared  that  through  treaty  or  by  direct  legis- 
lation it  may,  at  least  in  certain  cases,  become  advan- 
tageous to  supplement  our  present  policy  by  a  system 
of  reciprocal  benefit  and  obligation.  Now  there  are 
only  two  kinds  of  reciprocity.  As  the  Reciprocity 
Commissioner-General  Kasson  remarked :  "There  is 
no  novelty  in  reciprocity.  The  principle  has  prevailed 
in  human  relations  since  the  beginning  of  intercourse 
among  men.  Between  individuals  and  among  na- 
tions it  is  an  exchange  of  some  right  or  privilege  or 
favor  in  exchange  for  some  right  or  privilege  or 
favor  which  the  other  controls  and  is  willing  to  grant 
in  consideration.  It  has  developed  in  two  ways,  reci- 
procity in  favors,  and  reciprocity  in  burdens  and  pro- 
hibitions. The  former  is  accomplished  by  mutual 
agreement  in  the  form  of  treaties  and  the  latter  by 
legislative  retaliation." 

The  remarkable  thing  about  the  present  situation 
is  that  while  the  trend  of  opinion  in  the  United  States 
is  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  reciprocity  in  favors, 
the  cry  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  is  entirely  in  favor 
of  reciprocity  by  burdens  and  prohibitions.  The  chief 
safeguard  which  has  hitherto  protected  the  exporters 
of  the  United  States  from  exclusive  duties  on  the  part 
of  the  European  nations  has  been  the  existence  of  a 
J78 


Europe  Scared 

series  of  commercial  treaties  containing  the  most-fa- 
vored-nation clause  which  expires  in  1903.  At  that 
date  the  Austrians  and  the  Germans,  possibly  the 
Italians,  with  such  other  of  the  European  nations  as 
they  can  induce  to  join  them,  intend  to  see  what  can 
be  done  in  protecting  their  own  industries  by  apply- 
ing a  European  equivalent  of  the  Dingley  tariff  to 
American  goods.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is 
evident  that  it  will  be  somewhat  difficult  to  carry  out 
the  policy  recommended  by  Mr.  McKinley.  As  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  said,  we  must  remember  that  in  dealing 
with  other  nations,  benefits  must  be  given  while  bene- 
fits are  sought.  But  if  one  side  offers  benefits  while 
the  other  is  seeking  only  to  inflict  injuries,  negotia- 
tions are  not  likely  to  progress  very  rapidly. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  American  in- 
vasion has  somewhat  scared  Europeans,   nor  is   the 
I  scare  confined  to  Germany  and  Austria.    When  Prince 
-  Albert  of  Belgium  returned  from  his  American  trip 
i  in  1898  he  was  said  to  have  exclaimed  to  an  Amer- 
\  ican  friend :  "Alas !  you  Americans  will  eat  us  all  up." 
Admiral  Canevaro,  formerly  Italian  Foreign  Minister, 
5  speaking  at  Toulon   last  April,   remarked  that   "the 
:  Triple  and  Dual  Alliances  taken  together  had  given 
Europe  thirty  years  of  peace,"  and  he  added  that  "this 
fact  would  perhaps  lead  the  European  nations  to  con- 
'  sider    the    possibility    and    the    necessity    of    uniting 
against  America,  as  the  future  of  civilization  would 
require  them  to  do." 

There  are  few  publicists  so  intelligent  and  so  liberal 
as  Mr.  Paul  Leroy-Beaulieu,  but  he  is  so  far  under  the 

J79 


Europe  Scared 

influence  of  the  menace  from  the  New  World  as  to 
have  declared  himself  specifically  in  favor  of  endeav- 
oring to  realize  a  European  Zollverein.  As  Mr. 
Sydney  Brooks  pointed  out  in  an  interesting  article 
upon  America  and  Europe,  which  he  contributed  to 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  November,  he  would  not 
abolish  customs  duties  between  the  different  States, 
but  only  reduce  them  considerably  by  clearly  defined 
commercial  treaties  concluded  for  a  long  period.  With 
few  exceptions,  he  wrote,  the  maximum  should  be  12 
per  cent.,  and  a  permanent  European  Customs  Union 
should  be  appointed  with  the  task  of  providing  for 
successive  reductions  of  the  duties,  and  of  establish- 
ing the  closest  possible  relations  between  the  Euro- 
pean nations.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  he  declared,  as 
to  the  possibility  of  such  an  arrangement.  It  is  an 
ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  any  good,  and  it  would  be 
a  welcome  result  of  the  present  scare  as  to  the  Amer- 
ican invasion  if  it  were  to  force  reluctant  and  jealous 
nations  to  take  so  long  a  stride  in  the  direction  of  fed- 
eration. To  defend  themselves  against  the  United 
States  of  America  these  thinkers  advocate  the  crea- 
tion of  what,  from  a  fiscal  point  of  view,  would  be  the 
United  States  of  Europe. 

Although  the  reaction  against  Americanizing  influ- 
ence finds  most  vigorous  expression  in  Germany  and 
Austria,  the  process  of  Americanization  is  going  on 
steadily  in  all  the  other  countries.  In  all  the  capitals 
and  great  cities  from  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to 
Archangel,  American  firms  are  establishing  branches 
and  the  whole  continent  is  patrolled  by  American 
(80 


Trade  Laws  Immutable 

commercial  travellers.  Berlin,  Leipzig,  and  Dresden 
swarm  with  American  students,  while  Paris  has  so 
large  an  American  colony  that  the  Chicago  Usni- 
versity  is  establishing  an  annex  on  the  banks  of  the 
Seine.  The  finance  Ministers  of  Europe  are  begin- 
ning to  recognize  more  and  more  the  influence  of 
American  commercial  policy  upon  their  revenues. 
Quite  recently  M.  de  Witte  was  provoked  by  a  deci- 
sion of  the  Treasury  at  Washington  about  Russian 
sugar  to  increase  the  import  duties  upon  American 
iron  and  steel,  and  only  the  other  day  little  Denmark- 
was  discussing  whether  or  not  it  would  be  to  her  in- 
terest to  indulge  in  a  little  tariff  war  with  the  United 
States. 

The  idea  of  a  European  solidarity  of  interest  as 
against  the  United  States  is  a  vain  dream.  What 
difference  does  it  make  to  the  Austrian  agriculturist 
whether  his  goods  are  undersold  by  the  produce  of 
Danish  dairies  or  by  the  pork  that  is  raised  on  the 
Western  prairies?  States  that  have  a  common  bud- 
get may  conceivably  find  it  to  their  interest  to  pro- 
tect the  interests  of  their  own  taxpayers  against  the 
produce  raised  in  a  country  which  makes  no  contri- 
bution to  their  exchequer,  but  independent  competing 
nations  which  have  no  common  financial  interest  have 
no  motive  to  discriminate  between  one  foreign  com- 
petitor and  the  other  merely  because  of  the  difference 
of  continent  in  which  they  dwell. 

The  cheapness  and  quality  of  the  goods  offered  are 
the  only  questions  which  concern  the  consumer,  and  the 
German  housewife  has  not  even  a  sentimental  prefer- 


Russian  Sympathy 

ence  for  Russian  as  against  American  wheat,  merely 
because  the  Russian  is  a  European  and  the  American 
is  not.  Sentimental  considerations  are  much  more 
likely  to  tell  in  favor  of  the  United  States  than  other- 
wise. International*  jealousies  and  hatreds  due  to  the 
memories  of  old  wars  operate  much  more  against  Euro- 
pean rivals  than  against  the  United  States.  Germans 
only  need  to  dip  into  the  German  newspapers  in 
order  to  recognize  that  German  sentiment  is  much 
more  hostile  to  Great  Britain,  although  we  are  a 
European  Power,  than  to  the  United  States. 

Russia,  ever  since  the  Crimean  War,  has  been  much 
more  in  sympathy  with  the  Americans,  despite  their 
location  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  than  with  the 
British,  who  have  the  advantage  of  occupying  the 
same  continent  as  themselves.  The  relations  between 
America  and  Russia  have  always  been  friendly,  for 
the  Republican  section  of  the  English-speaking  world 
has  never  surrendered  itself  to  the  frenzy  of  Russo- 
phobia.  M.  Khilkoff,  the  Russian  Minister  of  Ways 
and  Communications,  who  has  carried  through  the 
construction  of  the  transcontinental  railway  across 
Siberia,  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  Baldwin 
Locomotive  Works  in  Pennsylvania,  and  retains,  both 
in  his  personal  appearance  and  in  his  manner  of  doing 
business,  the  impress  of  his  American  apprenticeship. 


J82 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Second 

The  Ottoman  Empire 

THREE  years  ago,  when  I  was  in  Constantinople, 
I  excited  considerable  astonishment  by  declaring  that 
nothing  was  more  probable  than  that  the  United 
States  might  be  driven  to  solve  the  hitherto  insol- 
uble problem  of  the  ownership  of  Constantinople.  The 
facts  were  simple  and  the  deduction  obvious,  but 
there  is  nothing  that  many  people  are  so  slow  to  rec- 
ognize as  the  salient  facts  of  a  political  situation. 

To-day,  thanks  to  the  operation  of  a  band  of  brig- 
ands on  the  Bulgarian  frontier,  the  eyes  of  the  public 
have  been  opened,  and  both  in  Europe  and  America 
the  man  in  the  street  is  talking  of  possibilities  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire  which  then  seemed  to  lie  outside 
the  range  of  practical  politics. 

The  incident  which  has  produced  so  sudden  an 
awakening  was  the  capture  of  Miss  Stone,  an  Amer- 
ican missionary.  On  the  2nd  of  September,  1901, 
Miss  Stone,  when  on  her  way  from  the  little  town  of 
Bansko  in  Bulgaria  to  Diumania  in  Turkey,  crossed 

J83 


The  Abduction  of  Miss  Stone 

the  frontier  of  Bulgaria  into  Macedonia  when  she 
was  waylaid  by  a  band  of  brigands  dressed  in  Turk- 
ish uniforms,  with  the  red  fez,  and  carried  off  into  the 
mountains  together  with  a  Bulgarian  lady  who  was 
one  of  the  party.  They  were  kept  in  captivity  in 
order  to  extort  a  ransom  of  £25,000. 

The  incident  of  an  American  lady  being  held  pris- 
oner in  the  Macedonian  mountains  created  a  great 
stir  in  the  United  States.  Newspapers  took  it  up,  and 
subsequently  a  subscription  was  raised  to  provide  the 
money  demanded  as  a  ransom. 

The  machinery  of  diplomacy  was  set  in  motion,  and 
Europe  and  •  America  found  themselves  face  to  face 
with  a  question  which  threatened  to  involve  the  United 
States  in  armed  intervention  in  Turkey.  In  view  of 
such  a  contingency  people  began  to  ask  how  Miss 
Stone  found  herself  in  such  a  position,  and  then  the 
great  Republic  of  the  West  for  the  first  time  began  to 
realize  the  extent  to  which  the  American  missions 
had  advanced  since  1858. 

Their  first  centre  was  Adrianople,  which  lies  out- 
side Macedonia.  The  mission  has  now  three  stations 
in  Bulgaria.  The  American  church  has  1,500  mem- 
bers; they  have  churches  also  at  Sofia,  the  Capital  of 
Bulgaria,  at  Salonica  and  at  Monast'ir.  Altogether 
the  Americans  have  nine  missionaries  in  Bulgaria  and 
Macedonia,  and  seven  American  lady  teachers.  In 
Northern  Bulgaria  the  American  Methodists  have 
eleven  American  and  native  missionaries.  In  Bul- 
garia, the  American  Board  of  Missionaries  have  estab- 
lished three  schools,  for  the  higher  education  of  both 
184 


American  Influences 

men  and  women,  and  one  Kindergarten.  They  have 
organized  fifteen  churches  where  services  are  held 
regularly,  besides  twelve  places  of  worship,  having 
about  1,500  communicants. 

The  church  at  Bansko,  from  which  Miss  Stone 
started  on  the  journey  which  ended  so  disastrously, 
has  150  members,  and  the  building  cost  £1,000.  In 
1872  the  Americans  translated  the  Bible  into  Bul- 
garian ;  they  established  a  printing-press,  book-stall 
and  a  free  public  reading-room  in  Sofia ;  and  they  pub- 
lished a  weekly  newspaper.  This  propaganda  of  the 
Americans  is  not  very  popular  among  the  Bulgarians, 
who  are  Greek  Orthodox;  but  the  theological  propa- 
ganda is  condoned  on  account  of  the  excellent  results 
from  it. 

The  Russians,  of  course,  dislike  it  even  more  than 
the  Bulgarian  Government ;  but  here  again  the  Amer- 
ican element  intervenes  in  an  unexpected  quarter. 
The  Russian  agent  at  Sofia,  M.  Bachmetieff,  is  mar- 
ried to  an  American  wife,  and  Mme.  Bachmetieff  is 
a  great  personal  friend  of  Miss  Stone's,  so  that  al- 
though from  a  high  political  point  of  view  M.  Bach- 
metieff would  be  expected  to  oppose  Miss  Stone's  ac- 
tions, from  a  domestic  point  of  view  the  influence  of 
Mme.  Bachmetieff  exercised  constantly  at  home  has 
made  the  Russian  agent  a  very  good  friend  and  warm 
supporter  of  the  American  missionary.  It  is  indeed 
difficult  for  any  intelligent  person  not  to  sympathize 
with  the  excellent  work  which  the  American  mission- 
aries are  doing  in  those  regions,  for  the  Americans 
have  not  only  done  the  work  themselves,  they  have 


American  Influences 

stimulated  the  Bulgarian  people  to  emulate  their  deeds, 
and  to  establish  similar  institutions. 

As  Mr.  W.  E.  Curtis  says  in  the  admirable  series 
of  letters  which  he  has  contributed  to  the  Chicago 
Record-Herald,  they  have  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
general  education  system ;  they  have  inspired  a  tem- 
perance movement;  and  wherever  their  influence  ex- 
tends you  will  find  a  radical  moral  and  social  change 
from  the  conditions  which  existed  when  independence 
was  proclaimed  twenty-three  years  ago. 

The  most  influential  woman  in  Bulgaria,  Mrs.  W. 
B.  Kossuroth,  was  a  pupil  of  Miss  Stone's.  She  is  the 
first  woman  who  ventured  to  carry  on  business  on  her 
own  account.  She  was  educated  according  to  Amer- 
ican ideas,  and  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  she 
took  charge  of  the  business  he  had  left.  Mrs.  Po- 
poff,  the  wife  of  the  pastor  of  the  Protestant  church  at 
Sofia,  was  educated  at  an  Ohio  seminary. 

Hence  it  was  not  at  all  surprising  that  Miss  Stone 
should  have  sallied  forth  at  the  head  of  a  party  of 
village  students,  among  whom  were  three  young  Bul- 
garian women  whom  she  was  going  to  place  in  charge 
of  schools  in  Macedonia.  The  brigands,  who  assumed 
Turkish  costume  to  avoid  suspicion,  are  declared  to 
have  been  Bulgarian  brigands,  belonging  to  the  Mace- 
donian insurrectionary  movement.  They  did  not 
molest  the  women  teachers,  but  they  carried  off  both 
Miss  Stone  and  Mrs.  Tsilka,  whom  they  held  for 
ransom. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  outrage  was  that  the 
attention  of  the  Americans  was  aroused.  Negotia- 
J86 


The  Blight  of  the  Turk 

tions  were  at  once  begun,  in  which  menaces  and 
bribes  alike  failed  to  secure  the  immediate  relief  of 
the  captives. 

October  and  November  were  consumed  in  abortive 
attempts  to  secure  the  release  of  Miss  Stone  and  her 
companion.  At  the  beginning  of  December  it  was 
reported  that  Miss  Stone  had  died  in  the  hands  of  her 
captors,  but  this  proved  to  be  only  a  rumor. 

The  incident  naturally  directed  American  public 
opinion  to  the  state  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  It  famil- 
iarized the  citizens  of  the  United  States  with  the  per- 
manent condition  of  the  Turkish  provinces,  and  it  re- 
minded the  world  of  one  of  the  worst  crimes  per- 
petrated by  European  diplomacy.  The  cry  of  the  men 
of  Macedonia,  "Come  over  and  help  us !"  met  with  no 
response  from  the  British  Government  of  1878.  The 
Russians  had  helped  them.  By  the  treaty  of  San  Ste- 
fano  the  whole  of  what  is  known  as  "Big  Bulgaria," 
from  the  Danube  to  the  yEgean,  was  liberated  from 
the  blighting  despotism  of  the  Turks. 

At  the  Berlin  Congress,  at  the  instance  of  Britain 
and  Austria,  Macedonia  was  cut  off  from  free  Bul- 
garia and  thrust  back  into  slavery  to  enjoy  the  un- 
covenanted  mercies  of  the  Turk.  Of  all  the  crimes 
perpetrated  at  the  Berlin  Congress,  this  was  the  worst. 
A  sop  was  given  to  the  conscience  of  Europe  by  in- 
serting Article  23  into  the  treaty  of  Berlin,  to  secure 
to  the  populations  of  Macedonia  and  other  Balkan 
provinces  the  right  of  self-government. 

Unfortunately,  as  usually  happens  in  such  cases,  the 
article  remained  a  dead  letter.  The  European  Powers 

J87 


Possible  Entanglement 

agreed  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  even  went  so  far  as 
to  draw  up  an  organic  constitution  for  the  govern- 
ment of  Macedonia,  but  nothing  effective  was  done  to 
carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty. 

What  the  results  of  the  capture  of  the  American 
lady  missionary  will  be  it  is  impossible  to  predict. 
Miss  Stone  may  be  liberated,  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
she  may  be  sacrificed,  owing  to  the  alarm  excited  in 
the  minds  of  her  captors  at  being  punished  for  their 
crime.  In  either  case  the  Americans  will  be  com- 
pelled sooner  or  later  to  take  the  matter  up  seriously. 

If  the  brigands  get  their  money,  the  profit  that  they 
have  made  upon  this  transaction  will  encourage  them 
to  develop  and  extend  the  kidnapping  business.  More 
American  missionaries  will  be  caught,  and  held  pris- 
oners to  be  ransomed,  and  thus  the  American  Govern- 
ment may  be  forced  to  take  action.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  Miss  Stone  is  killed,  the  Macedonian  question 
will  at  once  be  raised — who  can  say  with  what  con- 
sequences ? 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  survey  of  the  American- 
ization of  the  world  to  speculate  further  upon  the  part 
which  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  have  played  in 
the  recent  history  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  I  described 
this  at  some  length  in  the  book  which  I  wrote  in  1899, 
entitled  "The  United  States  of  Europe."  I  take  the 
liberty,  however,  of  reproducing  here  its  salient 
passages. 

Thirty  years  ago  a  couple  of  Americans,  Christian 
men,  with  heads  on  their  shoulders,  settled  in  Turkey, 
and  set  about  teaching  on  American  methods  the  ris- 
188 


American  Education 

ing  youth  of  the  East  in  an  institution  called  the 
Robert  College.  They  have  never  from  that  day  to 
this  had  at  their  command  a  greater  income  than 
$30,000  or  $40,000  a  year.  They  have  insisted  that 
every  student  within  their  walls  shall  be  thoroughly 
trained  on  the  American  principles,  which,  since  they 
were  imported  by  the  men  of  the  Mayflower,  have 
well-nigh  made  the  tour  of  the  world.  That  was  their 
line,  and  they  have  stuck  to  it  now  for  thirty  years. 

With  ivhat  result?  That  American  College  is  to- 
day the  chief  hope  of  the  future  of  the  millions  who  in- 
habit the  Sultan's  dominions.  They  have  200  students 
in  the  college  to-day,  but  they  have  trained  and  sent 
out  into  the  world  thousands  of  bright,  brainy  young 
fellows,  who  have  carried  the  leaven  of  the  Ameri- 
can town  meeting  into  all  provinces  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire. 

The  one  great  thing  done  in  the  making  of  States  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  century  was  the  creation  of  the 
Bulgarian  Principality.  But  the  Bulgarian  Princi- 
pality, the  resurrection  of  the  Bulgarian  nationality, 
although  materially  achieved  by  the  sword  of  the  liber- 
ating and  avenging  hordes  of  Russia,  was  due 
primarily  to  the  Robert  College.  It  was  the  Ameri- 
cans who  sowed  the  seed.  It  was  the  men  of  Robert 
College  who  took  into  Bulgaria  the  glad  news  of  a 
good  time  coming  when  Bulgaria  would  be  free. 

And  when  the  Russian  Army  of  liberation  returned 
home  after  the  peace  was  signed  it  passed  down  the 
Bosphorus,  and  as  each  huge  transport,  crowded  with 
the  war-worn  veterans  of  the  Balkan  battlefields, 

J89 


The  Robert  College 

steamed  past  the  picturesque  Crag  of  Roumeli  Hissar, 
on  which  the  Robert  College  sits  enthroned,  the  troops 
one  and  all  did  homage  to  the  institution  which  had 
made  Bulgaria  possible,  by  cheering  lustily  and  caus- 
ing the  military  bands'  to  play  American  airs.  It  was 
the  tribute  of  the  artificers  in  blood  and  iron  to  the 
architects  on  whose  designs  they  had  builded  the  Bul- 
garian State. 

But  the  influence  of  the  American  College  did  not 
stop  there.  When  the  Constitutional  Assembly  met 
at  Tirnova  to  frame  the  constitution  for  the  new-born 
State,  it  was  the  Robert  College  graduates  who  suc- 
ceeded in  giving  the  new  constitution  its  extreme  demo- 
cratic character ;  and  when,  after  the  Russians  left,  the 
Bulgarians  began  to  do  their  own  governing,  it  was 
again  the  American-trained  men  who  displayed  the 
spirit  of  independence  which  baffled  and  angered  the 
Russian  generals. 

From  that  time  to  now — when  I  visited  Sofia  one 
Robert  College  man  was  Prime  Minister  of  Bulgaria 
and  another  was  Bulgarian  Minister  at  Constan- 
tinople, while  a  third,  one  of  the  ablest  of  them,  was 
Bulgarian  Minister  at  Athens — the  Robert  College  has 
been  a  nursery  for  Bulgarian  statesmen.  So  marked 
indeed  has  been  the  influence  of  this  one  institution, 
there  are  some  who  say  that  of  all  the  results  of  the 
Crimean  War  nothing  was  of  such  permanent  im- 
portance as  the  one  fact  that  it  attracted  to  Constan- 
tinople a  plain  American  citizen  from  New  York. 

The  influence  of  the  United  States  in  the  Ease  is  by 
no  means  confined  to  Robert  College.  There  are  other 
190 


The  American  Dominant 

institutions  founded  by  Americans  at  Constantinople 
which  are  working  quite  as  well  as  the  Robert  College ; 
but  as  they  educate  girls  instead  of  boys,  they  will  not 
make  their  political  influence  felt  until  the  sons  of  the 
students  come  to  man's  estate.  But  it  is  not  only  at 
Constantinople  Americans  are  at  work.  They  are  at 
the  present  moment  almost  the  only  people  who  are 
doing  any  good  for  humanity  in  Asiatic  Turkey. 

How  many  American  citizens  are  aware,  I  wonder, 
that  from  the  slopes  of  Mount  Ararat  all  the  way  to 
the  shores  of  the  blue  ^Egean  Sea  American  mission- 
aries have  scattered  broadcast  over  all  the  distressful 
land  the  seeds  of  American  principles  ?  The  Russians 
know  it,  and  regard  the  fact  with  anything  but  com- 
placency. When  General  MossoulofT,  the  director  of 
the  foreign  faiths  within  the  Russian  Empire,  visited 
Etchmiadzin,  in  the  confines  of  Turkish  Armenia,  the 
Armenian  patriarch  spread  before  him  a  map  of  Asia 
Minor  which  was  marked  all  over  with  American  col- 
leges, American  churches,  American  schools  and  Amer- 
ican missions.  They  are  busy  everywhere,  begetting 
new  life  in  these  Asiatic  races.  They  stick  to  their 
Bible  and  their  spelling-book,  but  every  year  an  in- 
creasing number  of  Armenians  and  other  Orientals 
issue  from  the  American  schools  familiar  with  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  American  constitution. 
And  so  the  leaven  is  spreading  throughout  the  whole 
land. 

Of  course,  such  new  wine  could  not  be  poured  into 
the  very  old  bottles  of  the  Turkish  provinces  without 

J9J 


In  Letters  of  Blood 

making  itself  felt.  The  Armenians,  a  thrifty  and  studi- 
ous race,  soon  became  "swell-headed."  What  Bulga- 
rians had  done  they  thought  Armenians  could  do.  As 
the  Robert  College  men  had  created  an  independent  Bul- 
garia, they,  in  turn,  wpuld  show  that  they  could  create 
an  independent  Armenia.  So  they  set  to  work;  but, 
alas !  though  they  did  their  part  of  the  work  bravely 
enough,  Russia,  this  time,  was  in  no  mood  to  come  to 
their  rescue.  So  the  Sultan  fell  upon  them  in  his 
wrath  and  delivered  them  over  to  the  Bashi-Bazouk 
and  the  Kurd.  What  followed  is  written  in  letters  of 
blood  and  fire  across  the  recent  history  of  the  East. 

But  the  end  is  not  yet.  The  American  missionaries, 
who  took  no  part  in  the  abortive  insurrection,  were 
not  as  a  rule  much  molested.  They  are  working  on, 
teaching,  preaching,  sowing  the  seed  day  by  day,  creat- 
ing the  forces  which  will  in  time  overturn  the  Turkish 
Government  and  regenerate  Armenia.  The  Turk 
knows  it,  and  is  longing  for  the  time  when  he  may  have 
it  out  with  the  giaour  from  beyond  the  sea.  But  be- 
hind the  American  missionary  stands  the  British  con- 
sul, and  the  Sultan  fears  to  give  the  signal  for  ex- 
tirpation. 

Long  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy,  I  remember  being 
much  impressed  with  a  passage  in  Cobden's  political 
writings,  in  which,  after  describing  the  desolation  that 
prevailed  in  the  Garden  of  the  East  owing  to  the  blight- 
ing despotism  of  the  Turks,  he  asked  whether  it  would 
not  be  enormously  for  the  benefit  of  the  world  in  gen- 
eral, and  of  British  trade  in  particular,  if  the  whole  of 
the  region  now  blighted  by  the  presence  of  the  Turk 
J92 


A  Dream  Coming  True 

could  be  handed  over  to  an  American  syndicate  or 
company  cf  New  England  merchants,  who  would  be 
entrusted  with  the  administration  of  the  country,  with 
instructions  to  run  it  on  business  principles. 

"Who  can  doubt,"  said  the  great  free-trader,  "that  if 
such  an  arrangement  could  be  made,  before  long  the 
desert  would  blossom  as  a  rose  ?  Great  centres  of  busy 
industry  would  arise  in  territories  that  were  at  one 
time  the  granary  and  treasury  of  the  world."  This 
beatific  vision  of  Manchester-dom  has  never  ceased  to 
haunt  my  memory.  But  until  recent  times,  I  have 
never  seen  how  this  excellent  American  syndicate  was 
to  get  Turkey  into  its  pocket.  Gradually,  however, 
with  the  decay  of  Turkish  authority,  with  the  expan- 
sion of  American  ambitions,  and  above  all,  .with  the 
development  of  the  American  fleet,  Cobden's  dream 
seems  to  me  to  be  in  a  fair  way  of  being  realized. 

It  seems  to  me  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world 
that  some  fine  day  there  will  be  one  of  those  savage 
outbreaks  of  religious  or  imperial  fanaticism  which 
will  lead  some  unhanged  ruffian  who  has  been  deco- 
rated by  the  Sultan,  or  some  Kurdish  chief  to  take  it 
into  his  head  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  Islam  on  the 
nearest  American  mission  station.  He  will  sweep 
down  at  the  head  of  his  troops  upon  a  school  or  manse. 
The  building  will  be  given  to  the  flames,  the  Amer- 
ican missionary  will  be  flung  into  the  burning  build- 
ing to  perish  in  the  fire,  while  his  wife  and  daughters 
will  be  carried  off  to  the  harem  of  some  pasha.  • 

Nothing  could  be  more  natural  or  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  ordinary  practice  in  these  savage  regions. 

J93 


A  Portentous  Possibility 

There  is  no  available  force  to  defend  the  American 
settlers  from  their  assailants.  In  these  remote  dis- 
tricts it  is  often  possible  to  conceal  a  crime  for  months 
by  the  very  completeness  with  which  the  victims  have 
been  extirpated.  But,  of  course,  after  a  time,  whether 
it  be  weeks  or  whether  it  be  months,  the  fate  of  that 
mission  station  would  be  known. 

The  story  of  the  great  massacre,  when  the  mission- 
ary was  burned  alive  in  his  own  flaming  school-house, 
would  leak  out,  and  then,  in  the  natural  course  of 
things,  some  enterprising  newspaper  man  would  make 
his  way  to  the  scene  of  the  outrage,  would  verify  the 
facts,  would  ascertain  the  whereabouts  of  the  unfor- 
tunate American  women,  and  possibly  return  to  the 
outside -world  bearing  with  him  a  pathetic  and  urgent 
appeal  from  the  captives,  for  rescue  from  the  Turkish 
harem. 

This  outrage,  after  all,  is  nothing  more  than  the 
kind  of  thing  to  which  the  Christian  races  of  the  East 
have  had  to  submit  from  generation  to  generation. 
The  victims  have  been  as  white,  as  Christian,  and  as 
wretched  as  those  whose  imaginary  doom  at  the  hands 
of  the  Turk  or  Kurd  I  have  been  describing.  But  in 
the  latter  case  the  girls,  with  their  devoted  mother, 
who  may  be  subjected  to  the  worst  outrage  at  the 
hands  of  their  captors,  would  differ  from  the  Ar- 
menians in  that  they  speak  English.  That  one  differ- 
ence would  be  vital.  On  the  day  on  which  that  smart 
newspaper  man  wrote  out  his  story  of  the  fate  of  those 
American  women — wrote  it  out  in  vivid  characters, 
bright  and  clear  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  English- 
194 


Death-Knell  of  the  Turk 

speaking  race — the  doom  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 
would  be  sealed. 

There  are  eighty  millions  of  human  beings  in  the 
United  States,  most  of  whom  speak  English,  and  each 
one  of  whom  would  feel  that  the  imprisoned  women 
were  even  as  his  own  sisters.  On  the  day  on  which 
the  news  of  their  incarceration  and  outrage  reached 
the  Christian  Republic  of  the  West,  the  whole  of  the 
eighty  millions  who  inhabit  the  invulnerable  fortress 
which  Nature  has  established  between  the  fosses  of  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  would  start  to  their  feet  as  one 
man,  and  from  the  whole  continent  would  rise  but  one 
question  and  one  imperative  command. 

The  question  would  be:  "Where  is  Dewey?  Where 
is  Sampson?  Where  are  our  invincible  ironclads, 
which  in  two  battles  swept  the  flag  of  Spain  from  the 
seas?  Why  are  our  great  captains  roosting  round 
upon  their  battleships,  while  such  horrors  are  inflicted 
upon  women  from  America?"  And  after  that  inquiry 
would  come  quick  and  sharp  the  imperious  mandate: 
"To  the  Dardanelles !  To  the  Dardanelles  !" 

In  three  weeks  the  commanders  who  shattered  the 
Spanish  fleet  at  Manila,  and  drove  the  ironclads  of 
Admiral  Cervera  in  blazing  ruin  upon  the  coast  of 
Cuba,  would  appear  off  the  Dardanelles  to  exact  in- 
stant and  condign  punishment  for  the  outrage  in- 
flicted upon  American  women. 

Nor  would  they  stop  at  the  Dardanelles.  The  Stars 
and  Stripes  would  soon  fly  over  the  waters  of  the  Sea 
of  Marmora,  and  the  thunder  of  the  American  guns 
would  sound  the  death-knell  of  the  Ottoman  dynasty. 

J95 


The  Flag  Over  Constantinople 

No  power  on  earth  would  be  able  to  arrest  the  advance 
of  the  American  ships,  nor,  indeed,  is  there  any  Power 
in  Europe  that  would  even  attempt  to  do  so.  The 
patience  of  Christendom  has  long  been  almost  worn 
out,  and  Europe  would  probably  maintain  an  expec- 
tant attitude  while  the  deathblow  was  struck  at  the 
crumbling  relics  of  the  Ottoman  Power. 

When  the  Sultan  had  fled  from  Stamboul,  leaving 
his  capital  to  the  violence  of  the  mob,  the  Americans, 
to  save  Constantinople  from  the  fate  of  Alexandria, 
would  be  compelled  to  occupy  the  city  of  Constantine, 
and,  as  our  experience  has  long  shown,  it  is  much 
easier  to  occupy  than  it  is  to  evacuate.  Every  day  that 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  floated  over  the  gates  of  the 
Euxine  would  tend  to  familiarize  Europe  with  the  idea 
that,  of  all  possible  solutions,  the  indefinite  occupa- 
tion of  Constantinople  by  the  Americans  might  be 
open  to  fewer  objections  than  any  other  conceivable 
solution.  Thus,  at  any  moment,  owing  to  what  may 
be  regarded  as  a  normal  incident  in  the  methods  of 
Ottoman  misrule,  Cobden's  dream  might  be  fulfilled, 
and  the  great  Republic  of  the  West  become  the  agent 
for  restoring  prosperity  and  peace  to  the  desolated 
East. 

To  this  vision  of  things  to  come  I  have  little  to  add 
to-day.  But  I  may  remind  English  readers  who  know 
little  or  nothing  concerning  the  extent  to  which  the 
Americans  have  entered  the  missionary  field  that  there 
are  more  communicants  in  connection  with  the  churches 
founded  by  the  American  missionaries  than  there  are 
in  connection  with  the  churches  founded  by  missiona- 
J96 


English-Speaking  Missionaries 

ries  sent  out  by  the  United  Kingdom.  The  Americans 
are  behind  us  in  the  total  amount  of  money  raised 
every  year,  but  they  have  more  communicants  and 
more  native  adherents  and  more  Sunday-schools.  The 
figures  extracted  from  the  report  of  the  (Ecumenical 
Conference  of  Missionaries  held  in  New  York  two  or 
three  years  ago  are  very  striking.  They  are  as 
follows : — 


STATISTICS  OF  AMERICAN  AND  ENGLISH   SOCIETIES  DIRECTLY 
ENGAGED  IN  CONDUCTING  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


Number  of  Societies  . 

Income  Total  

Ordained  Missionaries 
Women  . 


Physicians  r  , , 

[Men 

Lay  Missionaries,  not  Physicians 
(Men) 

Married  Women,  not  Physicians 

Unmarried  Women,  not  Physicians     . . 

Total  of  Foreign  Missionaries 

Ordained   Natives    

Unordained    Native    Workers 

Total    of    Native    Helpers 

Stations  

Organized  Churches   

Communicants   

Sunday  Schools   

Sunday  School  Membership 

Native  Contributions   

Native  Christians,  including  Non-Com- 
municants . 


United 

United 

States. 

Kingdom. 

49 

54 

$5,403,048 

$8,266,374 

1352 

1984 

160 

205 

114 

74 

109 

765 

1274 

1148 

1006 

1668 

4110 

5937 

1575 

1729 

15,013 

29,779 

16,605 

31,740 

7321 

15,576 

4107 

5100 

421,597 

326,979 

7231 

38i7 

344,385 

213,935 

$628,717 

$797,355 

1,257,425     1,204,033 


The  missionaries  of  the  English-speaking  world  ex- 
ceed in  number  those  of  all  the  other  Protestant  na- 
tions put  together.  They  can  only  be  compared  with 

197 


The  Americans  in  Africa 

those  who  are  sent  out  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
parallel  and  contrast  between  the  English-speaking 
race  and  the  Church  of  Rome  is  of  world-wide  interest 
and  very  suggestive,  for,  to  use  Mr.  Gladstone's  phrase, 
our  race  "may  almo.st  claim  to  constitute  a  kind  of  uni- 
versal Church  in  politics." 

On  the  continent  of  Africa  the  Americans  have  as 
yet  hardly  laid  their  hand.  They  have  had  their 
share  in  punitive  expeditions  against  the  Moslem  on 
the  north  coast.  They  originated  the  colony  of  freed 
negroes  on  the  west  coast  which  subsequently  developed 
into  the  Republic  of  Liberia.  An  American  consul 
in  Egypt  by  sheer  bluff  secured  for  the  United  States 
a  place  among  the  Powers  charged  with  the  control  of 
the  International  Tribunals.  The  Methodist  Epis- 
copalians of  the  United  States  have  created  the  whole 
African  continent  into  one  vast  bishopric  and  placed 
it  under  Bishop  Hartzell.  Here  and  there  all  over  the 
continent  American  missionaries  are  to  be  found  labor- 
ing for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  But  the  Amer- 
icans are  only  pecking  at  Africa  as  yet.  Not  until 
Booker  Washington  and  his  like  create  an  educated 
race  of  American  blacks  will  the  Americanization  of 
Africa  really  begin. 


J98 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Third 

Asia 

THE  Americans  are  changing  so  many  of  the  cur- 
rently accepted  ideas  of  the  other  peoples,  that  an 
Englishman  may  be  pardoned  a  certain  degree  of  sat- 
isfaction when  he  finds  that  in  one  very  important 
matter  the  Americans  have  adopted  English  ideas. 
Until  quite  recently  the  Americans  as  a  whole  were 
under  the  influence  of  the  ancient  fallacy  which  domi- 
nated the  mind  of  Mr.  Gladstone, — that  the  sea  was 
still  a  divider  and  not  a  uniter  of  nations. 

A  State  across  which  you  could  walk  from  end  to 
end,  without  any  need  of  taking  ship  when  passing 
from  province  to  province,  was  held  by  them  to  be 
something  altogether  superior  to  a  State  whose  high- 
ways were  the  oceans.  The  very  existence  of  the 
British  Empire  was  due  to  the  fact  that  this  doctrine 
was  fallacious,  but  Mr.  Gladstone  to  the  end  of  his 
life  never  succeeded  in  emancipating  himself  from  its 
influence. 

The  Americans  have  only  just  begun  to  realize  that 
they  also  may  hope  to  adopt  the  proud  boast  of  their 

199 


Across  the  Pacific 

British  forefathers,  and  to  declare  that  the  frontiers  of 
the  United  States  extend  to  the  coastline  of  her  enemies 
and  rivals.  Once  having  abandoned  their  old  position, 
they  seem  to  be  animated  by  the  proverbial  zeal  of  the 
new  disciple ;  and  from  shrinking  nervously  from  wet- 
ting their  feet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  they  have  now 
boldly  plunged  across  the  wide  Pacific,  and  have  estab- 
lished themselves  off  the  Asiatic  coast. 

Their  advance  across  that  ocean  has  been  very  rapid. 
It  began  without  any  notion  on  the  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  of  what  was  going  to  happen.  The  mis- 
sionaries were  unintentionally  the  pioneers  of  trade  and 
then  of  political  dominion,  The  process  was  uniform. 
The  missionaries  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Samoa 
labored  to  teach  the  native  population  the  blessings  of 
Christianity;  then  came  the  trader,  who  introduced 
them  to  the  blessings  of  commerce,  and  after  the  trader 
came  the  administrators,  who  hoisted  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  and  conferred  upon  the  islanders  the  blessings 
of  being  allowed  to  stand  on  the  threshold  of  the 
American  Constitution  without  being  permitted  to  cross 
the  portals. 

Hawaii  was  annexed  in  1898.  The  first  treaty  with 
Samoa  was  made  in  1872,  when  the  port  of  Pago- 
Pago  was  acquired  as  a  coaling-station  for  steamers 
trading  between  San  Francisco  and  Australia.  The 
treaty  was  not  ratified  until  1878.  At  the  end  of 
1899  Great  Britain  retired  from  Samoa,  which  was 
left  to  be  divided  between  Germany  and  the  United 
States;  and  on  the  I7th  of  April,  1900,  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  went  up  over  the  island  of  Tutuila.  At  Pearl 
200 


Across  the  Pacific 

Harbor  in  Hawaii,  and  Pago-Pago  in  Samoa,  the 
Americans  had  planted  sea-castles  in  the  mid-Pacific, 
as  bases  for  their  advances  upon  Asia. 

The  event  which  converted  the  American  Republic 
into  an  Asiatic  Power  was  an  unforeseen  consequence 
of  the  war  undertaken  for  the  liberation  of  Cuba.  The 
necessity  for  destroying  the  Spanish  fleet  at  Manila, 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  free  to  prey  upon 
American  shipping,  placed  the  Americans  in  command 
of  the  greatest  commercial  city  in  Southeastern  Asia 
at  Manila. 

It  is  one  of  the  invariable  consequences  of  war  that 
the  passions  excited  by  the  combat  arouse  appetites 
which  can  only  be  satisfied  by  the  annexation  of  con- 
quered territory.  Mr.  Roosevelt  may  have  foreseen 
the  annexation  of  the  Philippines  when,  in  1897,  as 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  prepared  in  ad- 
vance for  the  attack  upon  the  Spanish  fleet;  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  even  he  realized  the  avidity  with 
which  the  American  people,  elated  by  the  easy  victory 
of  Admiral  Dewey,  would  fling  themselves  upon  their 
prey. 

"At  any  rate  we  have  got  the  Philippines,"  exult- 
antly exclaimed  an  American  citizen  in  London. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  I  replied,  "it  is  not  so." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  we  have  not  got  the  Philip- 
pines?" he  asked. 

"Certainly,"  I  answered.  "You  have  not  got  the 
Philippines;  it  is  the  Philippines  who  have  got  you." 

And  everything  that  has  happened  since  then  has 
justified  the  remark.  A  naval  action  of  a  few  hours 

20J 


The  Philippines 

destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  laid  Manila  prostrate 
at  the  feet  of  her  conquerors ;  but  three  years  of  in- 
termittent warfare  waged  by  land  and  sea  have  not 
yet  induced  the  Filipinos  to  recognize  the  brotherly 
love  and  benevolent' intentions  of  the  invaders.  Agui- 
naldohas  been  captured,  but  the  Philippines  still  require 
the  maintenance  of  an  American  army  almost  as  large 
as  the  number  of  white  soldiers  by  which  Britain  main- 
tains her  sovereignty  over  the  300,000,000  natives  of 
India.  Nor  does  there  as  yet  seem  any  prospect  of  a 
material  diminution  of  the  burden. 

But  American  influence  in  the  Philippines  seems 
likely  to  be  less  important  than  the  influence  of  the 
Philippines  in  the  United  States.  The  acquisition  of 
these  tropical  islands  suddenly  dazzled  a  large  section 
of  the  American  public  with  visions  of  the  civilizing 
sovereignty  and  beneficent  dominion  with  which,  in 
this  country,  we  have  long  been  familiar.  Dewey's 
victory  started  the  United  States  upon  the  career  of 
Asiatic  conquest.  Whether  she  will  persist  in  it  or 
not  remains  to  be  seen ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
annexation  inoculated  the  United  States  with  that  fev- 
erish spirit  of  Imperialism  which  ministers  subtly  to 
the  national  pride,  at  the  very  moment  that  it  offers  a 
soothing  salve  to  the  national  conscience. 

The  discussion  of  this  subject,  however,  would  lead 
us  away  from  the  question  of  the  Americanization  of 
the  world,  to  that  of  the  Philippinization  of  the  United 
States.  The  necessity  for  justifying  the  conquest  of 
the  Philippines — a  task  imposed  upon  them  as  an  un- 
expected corollary  of  a  naval  engagement — led  some 
202 


Intoxicating  Imperialism 

Americans  to  grasp  greedily  at  all  the  arguments  by 
which  for  many  generations  past  the  British  Jingo  has 
justified  that  war  for  markets  which  Sir  Edward  Clarke 
stigmatized  as  "murder  for  profit." 

At  the  same  time,  "The  White  Man's  Burden,"  that 
swan  song  of  the  expiring  genius  of  Mr.  Kipling,  sup- 
plied an  anodyne  to  the  uneasy  conscience  of  men  who 
were  keen  to  persuade  themselves  that,  while  appar- 
ently following  in  the  footsteps  of  predatory  Empires, 
they  were  in  reality  humbly  accepting  onerous  duties 
imposed  upon  them  as  instruments  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. The  boundless  possibilities  of  the  dominion  of 
the  Pacific,  and  the  opening  up  of  Asia,  stimulated 
American  oratory,  and  the  glowing  periods  of  the 
orator  swelled  the  heads  of  his  audience  with  radiant 
visions  of  the  regenerated  East  resulting  from  the 
establishment  of  the  benign  sovereignty  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic  at  the  gate  of  Asia. 

After  the  annexation  of  the  Philippines  the  cutting 
of  the  Isthmian  Canal  seemed  to  most  Americans  to 
be  a  foregone  conclusion.  While  contemplating  the 
possibilities  of  the  future,  Senator  Beveridge  let  him- 
self go  in  opening  the  Republican  campaign  in  Chi- 
cago on  the  25th  of  September,  1900,  in  the  following 
characteristic  outburst : — 

"When  an  English  ship,  laden  with  English  goods, 
bound  for  the  Orient,  sails  westward,  her  first  sight 
of  land  will  be  Porto  Rico — and  Cuba,  also,  as  I  hope 
— with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above  them.  As  it 
passes  through  the  wedded  waters  of  the  Isthmian  sea, 
still  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above  them.  Half  way 

203 


Some  Commercial  Geography 

across  that  great  American  ocean,  known  as  the 
Pacific,  the  first  port  of  call  and  exchange  will  be  the 
Islands  of  Hawaii,  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above 
them.  And  further  west,  as  the  land  of  sunrise  and 
sunset  lifts  before  tne  eyes  of  the  crew  of  that  mer- 
chantman, they  will  behold  glowing  in  the  heavens 
of  the  east  still  again,  and  still  forever,  those  Stars 
and  Stripes  of  glory.  And  if  that  ship  set  sail  from 
Australia  for  Japan,  it  must  stop  and  trade  in  ports  of 
that  greatest  commercial  stronghold  in  the  world,  the 
Philippine  Islands,  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  above 
each  one  of  them. 

"Lay  a  ruler  on  the  world's  map  and  you  will  find 
that  the  most  convenient  ocean  highways  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  Orient  or  to  the  markets  of  the  south 
are  dominated  by  American  possessions — by  Porto 
Rico,  by  the  canal,  by  Hawaii,  by  the  Philippines,  ours 
now,  and  ours  forever — aye,  and,  through  the  choice 
of  her  own  people,  by  Cuba  too,  ours  in  the  future, 
and  when  once  ours,  then  ours  forever,  with  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  above  them." 

Having  thus  established  themselves  in  the  Philip- 
pines, it  was  necessary  for  the  Americans  to  discover 
what  immense  use  could  be  made  of  their  new  posses- 
sion. Senator  Beveridge  was  careful  to  point  out  that 
they  were  next-door  neighbor  to  all  Asia ;  they  were 
nearer  to  India  than  St.  Louis  is  to  New  York,  to  China 
than  St.  Louis  is  to  San  Francisco.  They  were  the 
stepping-stone  to  the  most  sought-for  market  in  the 
world.  There  were  300,000,000  consumers  in  India,  to 
which  the  Philippines  gave  us  almost  equal  access  with 
204 


Croker's  Policy 

England  herself.  To  China  with  her  400,000,000  con- 
sumers the  Philippines  gave  us  quicker  access  than  even 
Japan  has  to  Australia,  and  all  Oceania,  to  which  again 
the  Philippines  give  us  easier  access  than  England 
herself. 

This  pocket  argument  was  reinforced  by  the  cus- 
tomary appeal  to  the  sacred  obligations  of  duty  to  the 
unfortunate  Filipinos.  Again  to  quote  Senator 
Beveridge : — 

"When  Circumstance  has  raised  our  flag  above  them, 
we  dare  not  turn  these  misguided  children  over  to 
destruction  by  themselves  or  spoliation  by  others,  and 
then  make  answer  when  the  God  of  nations  requires 
them  at  our  hands,  'Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?' " 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  United  States  within 
a  few  months  of  having  recoiled  with  horror  from  any 
suggestion  of  over-sea  dominion,  declared  in  the  im- 
mortal words  of  Mr.  Croker : — 

"I  am  in  favor  of  holding  on  to  all  that  we  have 
got,  and  reaching  out  for  more." 

To  us  in  the  Old  World  the  phenomenon  is  too 
familiar  to  excite  more  than  a  passing  comment.  But 
when  we  hear  the  old  familiar  arguments  pronounced 
with  an  American  accent,  it  reminds  us  how  much  of 
the  old  Adam  has  survived  in  the  New  World. 

The  Americans  having  thus  become,  almost  against 
their  will  at  first,  but  afterwards  by  their  deliberate 
choice,  an  Asiatic  conquering  Power,  were  compelled 
to  confront  and  discuss  international  questions  of  the 
first  magnitude,  and,  primarily,  the  one  great  question 
which  confronts  all  in  the  East,  namely,  what  should 

205 


The  Open  Door 

be  their  attitude  in  relation  to  Russia?  The  schism 
which  tore  the  English-speaking  world  in  twain  had 
its  advantages  as  well  as  its  disadvantages,  and  one  of 
those  advantages  was  that  it  left  the  Republican  sec- 
tion of  the  English-speaking  world  immune  to  the 
ravages  of  Russophobia. 

The  Russians,  the  only  European  race  equalling  in 
numbers  the  English-speakers  of  the  world,  have  al- 
ways been  in  as  friendly  relations  with  the  Americans 
as  they  have  been  at  cross-purposes  with  the  British. 
When  the  American  Republic,  newly  planted  on 
Asiatic  soil,  had  to  reconsider  its  traditional  policy  in 
relation  to  Russia,  it  was  a  fateful  moment  in  the 
history  of  the  race.  Tempters  were  not  wanting  to 
tell  Mr.  McKinley  and  Mr.  Hay  that  they  should 
modify  their  traditional  policy  in  relation  to  Russia 
by  taking  up.  a  position  more  or  less  akin  to  that  of 
Great  Britain.  The  old  saying  about  blood  being 
thicker  than  water,  which  was  first  coined  in  the  fight 
on  the  Peiho,  seemed  capable  of  a  new  application,  and 
there  were  not  wanting  those  who  believed  that  an 
Anglo-American  alliance  with  an  anti-Russian  objec- 
tive was  close  at  hand. 

Fortunately  the  world  was  saved  from  this  disaster 
by  the  good  sense  of  the  Americans.  Mr.  Hay  seemed 
to  waver  for  a  moment,  but  finally  he  maintained  his 
equilibrium,  and  the  Americans  adopted  a  policy  in 
China  which  brought  them  into  harmonious  relations 
with  all  the  Powers,  without  committing  them  to 
antagonism  to  Russia.  Equally  with  Great  Britain 
America  advocates  the  policy  of  the  open  door,  de- 
206 


The  Integrity  of  China 

manding  only  a  fair  field  and  no  favor  in  the  inter- 
national competition  for  the  Chinese  market.  But 
whenever  British  statesmen  talk  about  "open  doors," 
there  is  always  the  suggestion  of  menace  directed 
against  Russia.  The  United  States  is  more  likely  to 
keep  the  door  open  by  adopting  a  different  policy  and 
by  being  equally  ready  to  co-operate  with  Russia  or 
with  any  other  Power,  so  long  as  the  main  objects  of 
their  policy  are  identical  with  her  own. 

The  United  States  were  fortunate  in  having,  during 
the  critical  period  when  the  fateful  decision  was  taken, 
a  Chinese  Minister  at  Washington  who  had  assimi- 
lated American  ideas  so  perfectly  that  he  became  for 
the  time  being  a  veritable  force  in  American  politics. 
In  all  America  no  one  was  more  Americanized  than 
Wu.  Whether  he  was  driving  his  automobile  about 
the  streets  of  Washington,  or  lecturing  in  Chicago, 
or  contributing  to  the  North  American  Review,  he 
showed  himself  thoroughly  up-to-date  and  capable  of 
employing  all  the  resources  of  Western  civilization  for 
the  purpose  of  furthering  the  interests  of  the  great 
empire  of  the  East.  He  assisted  in  forming  a  strong 
public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  the 
integrity  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  made  a  gallant 
and  unsuccessful  struggle  against  the  race  prejudice 
which  led  the  Americans  hermetically  to  seal  their 
doors  against  Chinese  emigration  at  the  very  time 
when  they  were  insisting  upon  the  maintenance  of  the 
open  door  in  China. 

Although  the  United  States  adopted  the  sound  policy 
of  co-operation  with  Russia  and  the  other  Powers  in 

207 


The  Opening  Wedge 

maintaining  the  territorial  integrity  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  on  condition  that  that  great  market  was 
thrown  open  to  all  comers  on  equal  terms,  the  growth 
of  her  trade  in  China  led  her  to  reconsider  her  refusal 
to  accept  a  concession  of  land  offered  her  some  time 
ago  by  the  Chinese  Government  at  Tientsin.  Since 
then  the  imports  brought  into  Tientsin  from  America 
have  exceeded  those  from  Great  Britain,  and  the  im- 
ports of  American  petroleum  have  exceeded  those 
from  Russia.  In  view  of  the  increase  of  trade  the 
American  Minister,  Mr.  Conger,  has  received  instruc- 
tions to  ask  the  Chinese  Government  to  grant  a  con- 
cession of  land  at  Tientsin,  where  the  American  trad- 
ers may  establish  an  American  municipality. 

This,  however,  in  no  way  implies  that  the  United 
States  contemplates  any  fishing  in  the  troubled  waters 
of  "spheres  of  influence,"  and  the  like.  They  played 
their  part  in  the  defence  of  the  Legations,  and  the 
American  troops  were  among  the  best  behaved  of 
those  despatched  for  the  relief  of  the  beleaguered 
residency  in  Pekin.  One  of  the  unfortunate  con- 
sequences of  the  war  was  that  it  tended  somewhat 
to  discredit  the  American  missionaries,  who,  if  the  tes- 
timony collected  by  Mark  Twain  may  be  accepted, 
showed  tendencies  in  dealing  with  the  Person  Sitting 
in  Darkness  that  savored  more  of  the  severity  of  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  than  of  the  sweet  reasonableness 
and  merciful  forgiveness  inculcated  by  the  founder  of 
their  creed.  In  this  respect,  however,  the  American 
missionaries  resembled  most  of  their  cloth,  whether 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  and  they  share  the  responsi- 
208 


Awakening  of  Japan 

bility  of  having  contributed  to  the  moral  bankruptcy 
of  Christendom  in  China. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  the  ex- 
ercise of  American  influence,  the  far-reaching  conse- 
quences of  which  are  absolutely  incalculable  is  that  of 
the  awakening  of  Japan,  one  of  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  the  nineteenth  century.  That  awakening 
was  largely  due  to  the  action  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment. Baron  Kantero  Kaneko,  President  of  the 
America's  Friends  Society  of  Japan,  in  1901,  reared  a 
monument  to  commemorate  the  fact  on  the  forty-ninth 
anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  Commodore  Perry  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  who  was  sent  to  Japan  for  thei 
purpose  of  concluding  a  treaty  of  commerce  and 
friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  nations. 

Until  that  time  Japan  had  been  hermetically  sealed 
to  Western  civilization.  Dutch  and  British  envoys 
had  in  vain  attempted  to  induce  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment to  open  the  country  to  foreign  trade,  but  it  was 
not  until  1853,  when  Commodore  Perry  arrived  as  the 
emissary  of  the  Government  of  President  Fillmore, 
that  the  Japanese  were  induced  to  abandon  their  policy 
of  exclusion  and  embark  upon  that  career  of  revolu- 
tionary reform  which  has  carried  them  so  far.  Baron 
Kantero  Kaneko,  in  the  circular  inviting  subscriptions 
to  the  monument,  said  : — 

"  True,  Japan  has  not  forgotten — nor  will  she  ever  forget 
— that  next  to  her  reigning  and  most  beloved  Sovereign  whose 
high  virtues  and  great  wisdom  are  above  all  praise,  she  owes 
in  no  small  degree  her  present  prosperity  to  the  United 
States  of  America  in  that  the  latter  rendered  her  great  and 
lasting  service.  .  .  .  After  the  lapse  of  these  forty-eight 

209 


Awakening  of  Japan 


years  her  people  have,  however,  come  to  entertain  but  an 
uncertain  memory  of  Kurihama.  and  yet  it  was  there  that 
Commodore  Perry  first  trod  on  the  soil  of  Japan,  and  for  the 
first  time  awoke  the  country  from  a  slumberous  seclusion  of 
centuries — there  it  was  where  first  gleamed  the  light  that  has 
ever  since  illumined  Japan's  way  in  her  new  career  of  prog- 
ress." 


A  year  after  Perry's  visit,  in  spite  of  the  strong  op- 
position of  the  Barons,  and  without  waiting  for  the 
sanction  of  the  Emperor,  the  Regency  concluded  a 
treaty  of  commerce  which  opened  the  ports  of  Japan 
to  American  trade.  Similar  conventions  were  after- 
wards signed  with  Russia,  France,  Holland,  and  Eng- 
land. It  was  not,  however,  until  fourteen  years  later 
that  this  important  step  bore  its  final  fruit  in  the  revo- 
lution which  has  placed  Japan  in  the  forefront  of  the 
most  progressive  nations  of  the  world. 

In  the  period  that  intervened  between  1854  and 
1868  the  American  Government,  together  with  Eng- 
land, Holland  and  France,  bombarded  Shimonoseki. 
After  the  town  was  destroyed,  an  indemnity  of  £750,- 
ooo  was  exacted  from  Japan  and  divided  among  the 
Powers.  The  United  States  Congress  many  years 
afterwards  authorized  the  President  to  return  to  Japan 
the  sum  of  £137,000,  which  was  in  excess  of  the  ex- 
penditures actually  incurred.  This  is  an  almost 
unique  instance,  possibly  quite  unique,  in  which  any 
civilized  Government  having  exacted  an  indemnity 
in  excess  of  damage  done,  made  restitution  of  the  sur- 
plus. If  all  the  civilized  Powers  had  been  equally 
honest  in  their  dealings  with  Asiatic  races,  much 
bloodshed  might  have  been  avoided. 
2*0 


Corea,  Burma  and  India 

The  influence  of  America  upon  Japan  has  not,  how- 
ever, always  been  an  influence  for  good.  The  career 
of  Mr.  Hashi  Toru,  who  was  assassinated  in  1901, 
showed  that  the  vices  as  well  as  the  virtues  are  ex- 
portable from  the  United  States.  Mr.  Hashi  Toru 
was  a  man  of  undoubted  ability,  who,  during  his  so- 
journ in  Washington,  where  he  was  attached  to  the 
Japanese  Legation,  was  much  impressed  by  the  power 
and  wealth  which  the  Boss  system  of  American  pol- 
itics placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Boss.  He  went 
back  to  Japan,  and  in  no  long  time  had  established 
himself  as  the  Croker  of  the  Japanese  capital.  His 
power  was  so  firmly  established  that  the  Reformer  Iba 
Sotaro,  despairing  of  ridding  Japan  of  this  American 
importation  in  any  other  way,  slew  Hashi  Toru,  in 
full  light  of  day,  and  then  surrendered  himself  to 
the  authorities.  Whether  Bossism  will  revive  in  a 
land  where  the  assassination  of  the  Boss  ranks  as  an 
act  of  patriotism,  remains  to  be  seen. 

The  kingdom  of  Corea  is  another  field  which  offers 
promising  openings  to  the  American  capitalist  and  the 
American  adventurer.  Already  the  concessionaire  is 
busy,  and  sooner  or  later  we  shall  find  American  in- 
i  fluence  potent  and  possibly  supreme  in  the  hermit  king- 
j  dom.  The  American  trolley  has  already  invaded  the 
capital,  and  with  the  trolley  come  many  other  Ameri- 
can notions  which  are  likely  to  have  considerable  in- 
fluence in  deciding  the  future  of  the  country  that  has 
been  so  long  a  bone  of  contention  between  Japan  and 
Russia. 

American  influence  in  the  rest  of  Asia  until  quite 


Anglo-Americanism  in  India 

recently  has  been  chiefly  confined  to  the  teaching  of 
American  missionaries.  They  have  taken  an  honora- 
ble and  useful  part  in  the  presentation  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  Christian  religion  to  the  myriads  of  Burma  and 
India.  Every  British  missionary  is  regarded  more  or 
less  as  representing  the  Government  which  he  obeys. 
The  Americans,  who  do  not  labor  under  this  disad- 
vantage, often  find  it  easier  on  this  account  to  win 
the  confidence  of  the  people  among  whom  they  labor. 
In  consequence  of  this  detached  position,  they  are 
able  sometimes  to  affect  more  directly  the  action  of 
the  Government  than  the  British  missionaries. 

The  most  notable  illustration  of  this  was  afforded 
by  the  immense  service  which  was  rendered  to  the 
cause  of  morality  and  humanity  by  the  action  of  two 
American  ladies,  Dr.  Kate  Bushnell  and  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Andrews,  who  succeeded  in  bringing  to  light  the 
existence  of  a  deliberate  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
military  authorities  of  India  to  set  the  decisions  of 
the  House  of  Commons  at  defiance  in  the  matter  of  the 
official  regulation  and  patronage  of  vice. 

There  are  few  things  finer  in  the  recent  annals  of 
India  than  the  way  in  which  these  two  women,  alone 
and  single-handed,  penetrated  into  cantonment  after 
cantonment,  ascertained  the  existence  of  the  terrible 
facts  which  officialdom,  civil  and  military,  insolently 
denied,  and  then,  with  all  their  evidence  complete,  came 
to  London  to  challenge  the  authorities,  and  put  them 
to  open  and  humiliating  confusion.  Lord  Roberts  to 
this  day  has  not  forgotten  the  bitter  moment  when  he 
had  to  confess  that  as  Commander-in-Chief  he  had 
2J2 


Anglo-Americanism  in  India 

been  in  utter  ignorance  of  facts  the  existence  of  which 
he  had  denied. 

To  have  extorted  a  public  apology  from  Lord 
Roberts,  to  have  convicted  the  whole  of  Anglo-Indian 
officialdom  of  deceiving  the  world  in  order  to  evade 
the  deliberate  decision  of  the  House  of  Commons,  is 
an  achievement  which  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  mortal 
men,  and  still  more  rarely  to  that  of  mortal  women. 

As  to  what  would  be  the  net  effect  upon  India  if 
America  and  Britain  amalgamated  their  forces,  and 
bore  the  White  Man's  burden  in  Asia  between  them,  it 
is  as  yet  too  premature  to  speculate.  At  present,  how- 
ever, it  is  worth  noting  that  the  Viceroy  of  India, 
Lord  Curzon,  who  governs  the  country  in  the  name  of 
the  King,  has  as  partner  and  helpmate  an  American 
wife.  Love,  which  laughs  at  locksmiths,  makes  also 
short  cuts  through  political  barriers,  and  it  may  be 
that  in  the  marriage  which  made  a  Chicago  girl  Vice- 
Empress  of  India  we  see  a  foreshadowing  of  things 
to  come,  when  Britain  and  America,  happily  united  in 
the  permanent  ties  of  a  race  alliance,  may  pool  their 
resources  and  devote  their  united  energies  to  the  work 
of  the  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the  impoverished 
myriads  of  Asia. 


2*3 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fourth 

Central  and  Sooth  America 

IT  sounds  somewhat  of  a  paradox,  but  it  conveys  a 
remarkable  truth,  that  there  are  few  parts  of  the  world 
which  have  been  less  Americanized  than  Southern 
America.  As  I  have  already  stated,  the  United  States 
does  less  business  with  the  entire  population  of  Central 
and  South  America  than  it  does  with  the  five  million 
or  six  million  people  who  occupy  the  long  belt  of  terri- 
tory running  along  the  Northern  frontier.  The  influ- 
ence of  New  York  and  Chicago  is  much  more  felt  in 
London  and  in  Liverpool  than  it  is  in  Santiago  and 
Buenos  Ayres.  The  fact  is  that  the  whole  of  our 
geographical  notions  of  space  are  very  much  out  of 
date.  If  distances  were  calculated  not  by  miles,  but  by 
the  number  of  hours  or  days  it  takes  to  traverse  them, 
we  should  have  a  much  more  correct  view  of  the 
comparative  propinquity  of  places.  According  to 
maps,  the  United  States,  lying  in  the  same  continent  as 
South  America,  is  geographically  a  nearer  neighbor 
2(4 


Political  Consideration  Not  Dominant 

than  the  United  Kingdom.  But,  if  any  one  in  the 
United  States  wants  to  reach  South  America,  he  will 
find  it  a  saving  of  time  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  start 
from  London. 

While  the  Americans  are  Americanizing  England, 
the  English  have  been  for  years  past  busily  engaged 
in  Anglicizing  South  America,  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
notwithstanding.  As  we  need  to  modify  our  ideas 
of  distance,  so  it  would  be  well  to  rid  our  minds  of 
a  good  many  delusions  that  are  based  upon  the  old 
superstition  that  political  considerations  dominate 
everything.  Political  considerations  sometimes  domi- 
nate very  little.  Religion,  literature,  trade,  have  often 
much  more  influence  than  a  mere  political  tie.  Take 
the  case  of  South  America,  for  instance.  We  have 
largely  Anglicized  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  com- 
merce, but  the  people  of  that  continent  are  much  more 
subjects  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  than  to  Great  Britain. 
Of  the  outside  influences  which  affect  the  daily  lives  of 
sixty  millions  of  Central  and  Southern  Americans, 
the  Vatican  comes  first,  the  English  Stock  Exchange 
second,  while  the  United  States  of  America  comes  in 
a  very  bad  third.  All  this  may  be  changed,  and  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  have  made  up  their 
minds  that  it  must  be  changed,  and  that  right  speedily ; 
but  at  present  they  have  placed  too  much  reliance  upon 
a  purely  negative  influence  exerted  exclusively  in  the 
political  sphere. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine,  for  instance,  by  which  Uncle 
Sam  may  be  said  to  have  cast  his  shoe  over  the  whole 
of  the  territory  lying  south  of  the  Rio  Grande,  is 

2J5 


Half-Bred  Republics 

purely  negative.  It  simply  says  to  all  European  States, 
"Thou  shalt  not  annex  any  fresh  territory  in  the  New 
World."  But  there  it  stops.  Now  a  merely  negative 
interdict  such  as  this,  so  far  from  exercising  influence 
on  South  America,  is  apt  to  operate  in  the  exactly  op- 
posite direction.  It  is  a  guarantee,  to  all  the  half-bred 
Republics  lying  between  the  North  of  Mexico  and  the 
Straits  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  against  all  danger  of  an- 
nexation from  European  Powers — that  is  to  say,  it 
removes  the  pressure  of  the  fear  which  might  have 
driven  them  to  put  their  house  in  order,  to  introduce 
the  methods  of  civilization,  and  ingratiate  themselves 
with  the  United  States  so  as  to  secure  the  support  of 
the  Government  at  Washington  in  case  of  any  medi- 
tated conquest  by  any  of  the  Great  Powers. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  annuls  this  dread.  Each  Re- 
public feels  that  it  can  do  as  it  pleases,  that  it  need 
take  no  heed  of  the  wishes  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  it  is  under  no  necessity  to  provide  itself  with  the 
appliances  of  civilization.  We  have  had  considerable 
experience  in  the  Old  World  of  the  mischief  which  is 
wrought  by  this  kind  of  guarantee. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  no  such  hideous  negation  of 
God  erected  into  a  system  to  be  found  either  in  Central 
or  Southern  America  as  there  is  in  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire; but  there  is  no  denying  that  with  the  exception 
of  Chili  and  the  Argentine  most  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican Governments  leave  much  to  be  desired. 

President  Roosevelt  sees  this  clearly  enough,  and 
one  of  the  declared  objects  of  the  new  administration 
is  to  establish  a  direct  commercial  alliance,  with  steam- 
2J6 


British  Commercial  Annexes 

ers  which  will  place  the  American  ports  in  direct  com- 
munication with  the  seaports  of  South  America.  Un- 
til this  is  done  the  American  commercial  invasion  of 
South  America  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  begun. 

At  present  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chili,  and  Peru 
are  commercial  annexes  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  advent  of  the  United  States 
will  lead  to  our  banishment  from  provinces  which  the 
enterprise  of  our  merchants  have  made  our  own  with 
little  help  from  armies  or  diplomacy.  It  is  forgotten 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  we  seized  both 
Montevideo  and  Buenos  Ayres,  and  if  our  generals 
had  been  men  of  ordinary  capacity  it  is  possible  there 
might  have  been  a  British  Empire  at  the  extreme  south 
of  the  American  continent  to  balance  the  Canadian 
Dominion  at  the  extreme  north.  That  time,  however, 
has  gone  by,  and  since  then  we  have  neither  attempted 
to  annex  South  American  territory  nor  seriously  to 
colonize  the  vast  and  fertile  territory  of  South 
America. 

What  we  have  done  has  been  to  lend  them  money 
and  to  invest  money,  millions  of  money,  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  railways  and  tramways,  and  in  ranch 
companies  and  mines.  In  the  Argentine  Republic,  as 
Mr.  Shaw-Lefevre  has  recently  reminded  us,  all  the 
railways  in  the  country  are  practically  owned  by 
British  capitalists  and  managed  by  English  companies. 
The  same  is  generally  true  of  tramways,  telephone, 
and  electric  lighting  companies.  The  principal  banks, 
and  loan  and  trust  companies,  and  very  many  indus- 
trial concerns  are  worked  with  British  capital  and 

2J7 


English  Capital 

managed  by  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen.  In  Buenos 
Ayres  alone  there  are  160  miles  of  tramways  tinder  ten 
different  companies,  all  of  which  are  financed  from 
England.  The  railway  companies  under  British  man- 
agement can  raise  ritoney  at  4  per  cent.,  while  the 
Government  of  the  Argentine  has  to  pay  six.  There  is 
an  English  colony  of  25,000  persons  in  Buenos  Ayres, 
and  a  great  many  are  scattered  all  over  the  country. 
Mr.  Shaw-Lefevre  says  that  it  is  estimated  that  nearly 
£250,000,000  of  English  capital  is  invested  in  the 
country. 

AltHbugh  we  have  a  colony  of  25,000  in  the  Argen- 
tine, the  French,  who  are  usually  said  to  be  not  a 
colonizing  nation,  are  credited  with  twice  the  num- 
ber, and  they  are  at  least  equalled  by  the  German 
settlers.  But,  although  the  Russian  Stundists  and 
other  nationalities  have  helped  to  swell  the  foreign 
element  in  the  Argentine,  the  great  majority  of  the 
European  settlers  are  Italians.  They  find  the  climate 
agreeable,  and  they  are  at  home  in  a  land  whose  popu- 
lation is  Latin  in  its  origin  and  Catholic  in  its  religion 

In  Chili  the  British  capitalist  is  as  much  in  evidence 
as  in  the  Argentine.  Sir  Howard  Vincent,  who  trav- 
elled through  South  America  in  1897,  reported  that 
the  greater  enterprises  were  almost  entirely  in  British 
hands;  the  principal  railways,  the  ports,  the  large 
estates,  the  main  factories.  In  Valparaiso  the  great- 
est mercantile  houses  are  British ;  nearly  half  the  ship- 
ping is  British.  The  Chilians,  he  declared,  are  the 
British  of  the  Pacific.  The  British  colonists,  largely 
of  Scotch  origin,  have  become  naturalized  Chilians, 
2J8 


South  American  Possibilities 

and  take  a  leading  part  in  the  government  of  the  Re- 
public. In  Peru  half  the  shipping  arriving  at  Callao 
is  British,  and  the  Chilians  come  next,  whose  officers 
are  nearly  all  British.  The  Peruvian  Corporation, 
which  took  over  £50,000,000  of  the  Peruvian  foreign 
debt,  and  also  ten  State  railways,  are  all  British. 

The  following  figures  concerning  South  and  Central 
America  are  quoted  from  a  very  useful  pamphlet  com- 
piled by  Mr.  Sanson,  of  the  South  American  Journal, 
entitled  "South  America  as  a  Field  for  Emigrants" : — 


Name  of  Country. 

Area  in 
Square  Miles. 

Population 
Last  Census. 

Inhabi- 
tants 
per 
Square 
Mile. 

SOUTH  AMERICA. 
Brazil  . 

No. 
3,218,082 

.     No. 
16,000,000 

53 

Argentine  Republic.  .  . 
Chili 

1,125,086 
293.970 

4,090,000 
3,350  ooo 

.36 
i  14 

Uruguay    • 

72  150 

840  700 

i   15 

Paraguay 

98  ooo 

600  ooo 

61 

Bolivia 

567  200 

2  330  330 

Peru  

503,000 

4,000,000 

•  79 

Ecuador  
Colombia  
Venezuela  

CENTRAL  AMERICA. 
Guatemala  

120,000 

573,900 
593,940 

46,800 

1,270,000 
4,000,000 
2,323,500 

1,535,000 

1.05 
.69 
•39 

33.1 

Costa  Rica  

37,000 

268,000 

7.2 

Salvador  

7,225 

803,534 

114.  7 

Honduras  

43,000 

398,900 

9  2 

Nicaragua.    .  . 

49,  500 

420,000 

8  6 

Mexico  

767,005 

12,619  954 

16  4 

8,215,858 

74,848,964 

219 


Soiith  American  Possibilities 


Trade  per 

Latest  Trade  Returns. 

head  of 

Name  of 
Country. 

Population. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Imp. 

Exp. 

SOUTH  AMERICA. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

Brazil  

21,567,000 

26,752,200 

i.  3 

I.    6 

Argentine     Re- 

public   

21,485,780 

26,765,891 

5-   2 

6.   4 

Chili  

11,875,000 

11,955,000 

3-   6 

3-   6 

Uruguay  

5,576,000 

6,728,200 

6.   6 

8.   o 

Paraguay  
Bolivia. 

72,500 
3,670,050 

69,400 
3,012,563 

O.I2 

i  .    5 

O.II 

i  .   3 

Peru.  . 

1,929,727 

3,027,477 

o.   5 

o.  70 

Ecuador. 

I>394>  578 

2,250,000 

i  .    i 

i.   8 

Colombia  

2,500,000 

2,670,000 

6.   o 

0.60 

Venezuela  

2,300,400 

3,516,519 

I.OO 

1.07 

CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

Guatemala  

776,133 

1,098,390 

0.50 

0.60 

Costa  Rica  

917,223 

1,012,102 

3-   3 

3-   8 

Salvador  

270,000 

I,08O,OOO 

0.38 

i-   4 

Honduras  

274,661 

256,685 

0.70 

0.69 

Nicaragua  
Mexico  

573,236 
9,121,810 

636,710 
13,871,513 

i.   4 
0.72 

i.    5 

£84,323,088 

£104,741,840 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  countries 
of  Latin  America  occupy  an  area  of  8,215,858  square 
miles,  or  about  2.31  times  the  area  of  the  whole  of 
Europe,  but  have  a  total  population  of  less  than  double 
that  of  the  United  Kingdom.  A  still  closer  idea  of  the 
relative  sizes  of  the  countries  may  be  formed  when  it 
is  known  that  Brazil  alone  is  nearly  equal  in  area  to 
Europe,  or,  taking  the  area  of  Great  Britain  at  88,600 
square  miles  and  the  population  at  40,000,000,  Brazil 
has  about  361  1-3  times  this  area,  but  only  two-fifths 
220 


South  American  Possibilities 

of  the  population.  The  Argentine  Republic  is  12.6 
times  the  area  of  Great  Britain,  but  has  only  about  a 
tenth  of  the  population. 

How  vast  and  fertile  are  the  territories  which 
South  America  offers  to  the  overcrowded  populations 
of  Europe  is  very  imperfectly  appreciated  in  the 
United  States.  Geographers  maintain  that  there  is 
more  good  fertile  soil  available  for  colonization  in 
South  America  than  in  any  other  Continent.  The  pro- 
portion of  barren  wilderness  is  smaller  there  than  else- 
where, and  the  population  per  square  mile  is  infini- 
tesimal. The  whole  Continent  at  present  has  not 
the  population  of  the  German  Empire.  Yet  the  whole 
of  the  German  Empire  might  be  stowed  away  out  of 
sight  in  a  corner  of  Brazil. 

The  Americans  of  the  United  States  have  heretofore 
done  little  or  nothing  to  develop  this  vast  Continent. 
They  do  less  trade  with  South  and  Central  America 
than  they  do  with  the  five  millions  of  Canadians  on 
their  northern  border.  They  have  not  established  as 
yet  a  single  line  of  steamships  between  the  ynited 
States  and  South  America.  Britain  has  invested  500 
millions  sterling  in  South  America.  Every  week  Brit- 
ish steamships  leave  for  South  American  ports.  Com- 
mercially, we  have  annexed  the  Continent.  But  as 
Disraeli  said  there  is  room  in  Asia  for  both  Russia 
and  England,  so  we  may  say  there  is  room  in  South 
America  for  both  John  Bull  and  Uncle  Sam. 

We  have  considerable  interest  in  other  parts  of 
South  America,  but  it  is  in  these  three  States,  the 
Argentine,  Peru,  Chili,  that  our  commercial  ascend- 

22* 


An  Egypt  of  Argentine 

ancy  has  until  recently  been  unchallenged.  Of  late  we 
have  been  losing  ground.  The  Germans  are  pressing 
us  hard,  and  Mr.  Shaw-Lefevre  warns  us  only  this 
year  that  unless  Englishmen  are  prepared  to  work 
more  and  play  less,  they  will  see  themselves  supplanted 
by  their  more  industrious  competitors.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  the  many  hundreds  of  millions  of  British  cap- 
ital invested  in  South  America,  there  has  been  no  at- 
tempt to  base  upon  these  investments  a  claim  to  polit- 
ical influence,  much  less  ascendancy.  The  only  Briton 
of  eminence  who  has  ever  expressed  a  wish  to  alter 
this  was  Mr.  Cecil  Rhodes,  who  told  me  years  ago 
when  the  Argentine  made  default,  that  if  he  had  been 
Foreign  Minister  he  would  have  occupied  the  Argen- 
tine and  held  it  as  we  hold  Egypt,  as  a  guarantee  for 
the  payment  of  interest  on  Argentine  securities. 

The  fact  that  this  would  have  brought  about  an  im- 
mediate collision  with  the  United  States  being  pointed 
out  to  him,  he  at  once  answered  that  the  right  thing  to 
do  was  for  England  and  America  to  have  done  it  to- 
gether, after  the  fashion  of  the  Anglo-French  condo- 
minium in  Egypt  before  1880.  Mr.  Rhodes  at  that 
time  was  not  so  conspicuous  a  personage  in  British 
politics  as  he  became  after  he  was  made  a  Privy 
Councillor,  and  he  has  of  late  had  a  good  many  other 
things  to  think  of  beyond  dreaming  of  South  American 
adventures.  Mr.  Rhodes,  to  do  him  justice,  never  wa- 
vered from  the  idea  of  a  race  alliance,  and  the  promo- 
tion in  all  continents  and  in  both  hemispheres  of  the 
ascendancy  of  the  English-speaking  man.  However 
injudicious  his  suggestion  may  have  been  about  the 
222 


Argyle's  Glib  Advice 

Argentine,  it  could  at  least  be  excused  on  the  ground 
of  his  race-patriotism. 

But  this  excuse  cannot  be  alleged  for  another  emi- 
nent Briton,  the  King's  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of 
Argyle  to  wit,  who  some  years  ago  actually  published 
in  German  a  fervent  appeal  to  the  German  Empire  to 
seize,  occupy  and  administer  the  Argentine  Republic. 
The  Duke  of  Argyle  (he  was  then  the  Marquis  of 
Lome),  writing  in  the  Deutsche  Revue  for  September, 
1891,  pointed  out  to  the  Germans  that  the  German 
Empire  was  quite  capable  of  acquiring  fame  and  ad- 
vantage by  its  warlike  or  diplomatic  conquests.  He 
pointed  out  what  they  were  already  painfully  con- 
scious of — that  Germans  ceased  to  be  Germans  when 
they  went  abroad. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  there  is  a  country,  the  one  country  in 
which  there  is  nothing  but  men  to  despise,  where  a  new  throne 
is  to  be  mounted.  There  is  a  country  whose  welfare  depends 
on  a  foreign  Power  preventing  them  from  knocking  off  each 
other's  heads  every  few  years — a  country  with  a  beautiful  capi- 
tal, a  splendid  harbor,  a  good  soil,  in  which  everything  is 
excellent,  except  the  government.  This  country,  which  only 
requires  a  European  protectorate  to  bring  into  it  the  long- 
desired  order  and  to  make  it  an  El  Dorado,  is  Argentina. 
Here  German  rule  established  in  the  form  of  a  protectorate, 
or  in  any  other  form,  would  be  welcome,  because  it  would  be 
capable  of  helping  the  country  out  of  its  distress." 

And,  lest  the  Germans  should  not  be  sufficiently 
tempted  by  the  glowing  picture  which  he  painted  of 
the  Empire  which  they  could  win  with  their  good 
swords,  in  the  south  of  America,  he  warned  them  that 
one  day  another  Power  will  come  and  do  what  must 
one  time  be  done  there,  "and  then  the  German  at  home 
will  be  angry,  but  he  will  be  too  late." 

223 


Germanizing  Brazil 

And  the  man  who  thus  writes  was  at  one  time 
Governor-General  of  Canada,  the  representative  of  the 
British  Empire  in  North  America.  But  the  Monroe 
doctrine  and  the  certainty  that  if  Germany  had  re- 
sponded to  his  appeal  «she  would  have  been  involved  in 
war  with  the  United  States,  never  seemed  to  have 
crossed  his  mind,  so  oblivious  are  even  clever  men  of 
the  governing  factors  in  a  situation  upon  which  they 
venture  to  proffer  glib  advice. 

The  Germans,  it  must  be  admitted,  have  shown  little 
inclination  to  respond  to  the  suggestion  of  the  tempter. 
It  is  not  upon  Argentina,  but  further  north,  that  the 
Germans  at  present  have  fastened  their  eyes.  Great 
efforts  have  been  made  for  several  years  past  to  deflect 
German  emigration  from  North  America  and  Aus- 
tralia to  Brazil. 

German  Colonists  have  settled  themselves  in  com- 
munities in  which  nothing  but  German  is  spoken,  and 
which  are  looked  upon  in  Berlin  as  the  possible  germ 
of  a  great  South  American  German  Empire.  It  is 
easy  to  see  that  if  they  increase  and  grow  powerful, 
these  German-Brazilian  communities,  by  their  superior 
culture  and  discipline,  may  be  in  a  position  to  inter- 
vene effectually  in  deciding  the  destinies  of  that  vast 
half  continent  which,  despite  all  its  fertility,  is  not  one- 
quarter  peopled. 

Colonel  C.  P.  Bryan,  United  States  Minister  at 
Brazil,  declared  on  his  return  to  the  United  States 
in  October,  1901,  that  he  had  utterly  failed  to  discover 
any  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Germans  or  Italians 
to  pursue  their  nationalist  aspirations  in  Brazil.  In 

224 


A  Fair  Warning 

Southern  Brazil  he  estimates  the  German  population  at 
present  at  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  in  number. 
Many  of  them  have  become  Brazilian  citizens,  and  are 
as  much  Brazilianized  as  German  emigrants  in  the 
United  States  are  Americanized.  Very  few  Ger- 
mans of  late  years  have  been  settling  in  Brazil.  In 
1898  the  Italians  sent  33,000,  the  Portuguese  11,000, 
the  Spaniards  6,000  emigrants  to  Brazil,  while  the 
Gertnans  sent  not  500. 

The  Americans  are  well  aware  of  German  aspira- 
tions in  the  direction  of  Brazil,  and  plain  and  unmis- 
takable warnings  have  been  uttered  from  time  to  time 
in  what  may  be  described  as  the  semi-official  press  of 
the  United  States  that  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
German  Empire  to  establish  either  a  German  protecto- 
rate or  a  German  colony  under  the  German  flag  in  any 
part  of  the  South  American  Continent  will  be  re- 
garded as  a  casus  belli. 

In  Central  America,  the  only  vital  interest  for  the 
United  States  is  found  in  the  fact  that  across  the  isth- 
mus lies  the  shortest  road  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific. 

American  public  opinion  appears  to  have  decided 
in  favor  of  severing  the  Isthmus  which  unites  the  two 
Americas.  The  question  as  to  whether  to  make  the 
•Isthmus  through  Nicaragua  or  through  Panama  ap- 
pears to  have  been  decided  in  favor  of  the  longer  route. 
Uncle  Sam  has  got  money  to  burn,  and  the  digging  cf 
a  canal  182  miles  in  length  through  a  difficult  country 
at  a  cost  of  something  under  £38,000,000  sterling  may 
not  be  good  business  from  the  point  of  view  of  divi- 

225 


The  Nicaragua  Canal 

dends,  but  it  is  a  much  more  credible  occupation  than 
that  in  which  nations  frequently  engaged  for  the  ex- 
penditure of  their  surpluses.  It  is  not  for  us  who  have 
thrown  away  £200,000,000  sterling  in  order  to  render 
South  Africa  permanently  more  difficult  to  hold  than 
it  would  have  been  if  we  had  never  fired  a  shot,  to  carp 
at  an  expenditure  of  under  £40,000,000  which  will  in- 
cidentally and  among  other  effects  have  the  result  of 
bringing  Melbourne  nearer  to  New  York  than  it  is  to 
Liverpool. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter  into  particulars  as 
to  the  merits  of  the  rival  routes.  The  Commission  ap- 
pointed to  inquire  into  the  matter  reported  that  as  they 
could  not  buy  out  the  French  interests  in  Panama  for 
less  than  £20,000,000,  the  total  cost  of  the  Panama 
route  would  be  between  £12,000,000  and  £13,000,000 
more  than  the  Nicaragua  route.  If  the  Americans  are 
prepared  to  sink  £40,000,000  in  constructing  a  35  feet 
deep  waterway  across  183  miles  of  Central  American 
territory,  and  are  further  willing  to  build  fifteen  miles 
of  breakwater  and  dredge  out  the  sea  to  that  distance, 
they  will  make  us  all  their  debtors,  but  it  is  extremely 
improbable  that  they  will  ever  reap  any  adequate  finan- 
cial return,  and  as  for  the  advantages  of  the  canal  from 
a  naval  point  of  view,  the  less  said  the  better.  Brit- 
ish naval  authorities,  at  any  rate,  are  tolerably  unan- 
imous in  believing  that  any  admiral  who  would  venture 
in  war  time  to  risk  any  valuable  vessel,  let  alone  a 
fleet,  in  the  passage  of  such  a  canal  as  that  of  Nica- 
ragua, would  deserve  to  be  court-martialed. 
The  moment  the  United  States  decide  to  cut  the 

224 


The  Nicaragua  Canal 

canal,  they  must  first  of  all  negotiate  for  a  ten  mile 
strip  across  the  territory  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa 
Rica  so  as  to  give  them  absolute  control  of  five  miles 
on  either  side  of  the  waterway.  Then  the  American 
naval  authorities  are  insisting  that  it  will  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  occupy  three  or  four  naval  stations, 
from  which  their  fleet  could  defend  the  safety  of  the 
canal.  The  maintenance  of  these  coaling-stations 
ought  to  be  debited  to  the  working  expenses  of  the 
canal.  The  existence  of  the  canal  would  probably 
precipitate  the  conclusion  of  the  negotiations  which 
are  pending  for  the  purchase  of  the  Danish  West 
Indies,  while  other  stations  would  be  occupied  in  Almi- 
rante  Bay  in  Colombia,  in  the  Gulf  of  Dulce  in  Costa 
Rica,  and  one  of  the  Galapagos  Islands  which  are  off 
the  coast  of  and  belonging  to  Ecuador.  From  a  finan- 
cial point  of  view,  the  investment  of  £50,000,000,  be- 
cause such  enterprises  always  cost  much  more  than  the 
estimates,  is  endangered  first  by  the  possibility  that  some 
one  may  construct  the  Panama  Canal,  and  so  offer  a 
short  route  from  sea  to  sea,  less  than  one-fourth  of 
the  distance.  This  probability  is,  however,  very  re- 
mote. If  the  Panama  Canal  has  never  been  cut  when 
its  constructors  could  count  upon  a  monopoly,  no  one 
is  likely  to  sink  money  in  it  when  it  would  have  to 
compete  with  the  American  Canal  through  Nicaragua. 
Much  more  serious  than  the  more  or  less  shadowy 
danger  of  the  Panama  Canal  is  the  prospect  that  the 
Tehuantepec  Railway  will  carry  the  biggest  ships 
from  sea  to  sea  considerably  cheaper  and  much  more 
rapidly.  The  construction  of  the  Tehuantepec  rail- 

227 


The  Nicaragua  Canal 

way  is  in  the  hands  of  a  British  contractor  and  it  is 
expected  that  it  will  be  completed  at  a  cost  of  five 
millions — years  before  the  Americans  get  half  way 
through  with  their  Nicaragua  Canal.  To  cut  the 
canal  it  will  require  two  years'  preliminary  work,  and 
six  years'  hard  digging.  The  Americans  will  be  very 
lucky  if  the  first  ship  works  its  way  through  all  the 
locks  on  the  Nicaragua  route  ten  years  from  to-day 
whereas  the  Tehuantepec  line  will  be  ready  in  two 
years. 

Sir  Weetman  Pearson  has  a  lease  of  fifty  years,  so 
if  this  forecast  be  correct,  British  enterprise  has  been 
doing  precisely  what  Canning  boasted  to  have  done 
when  he  propounded  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  estab- 
lished British  interests  in  Central  America  without  in 
any  violating  American  susceptibilities. 

The  revolutionary  disturbances  which  compelled  the 
United  States  to  land  marines  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  Panama  Railway  from  interruption  were 
an  unpleasant  reminder  of  the  contingencies  which 
must  be  faced  by  those  who  go  a-riding  and  a-sailing 
through  Central  American  Republics.  Once  the  canal 
is  made  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  whole  of  the  ten 
miles'  strip  will  become  part  and  parcel  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  and  will  form  a  base  from 
which  the  authority  of  Uncle  Sam  will  be  extended 
both  east  and  west  and  north  and  south  until  the  con- 
trol, if  not  the  actual  annexation,  of  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica  would  be  complete. 


228 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fifth 

The  Monroe  Doctrine 

WHAT  is  the  Monroe  Doctrine?  The  best  answer 
is  to  be  found  in  quoting  the  words  which  President 
Monroe  used  in  his  message : 

"We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor  and  to  the  amicable 
relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  those 
(European)  powers  to  declare  that  we  should  con- 
sider any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system 
to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  safety." 

He  added  that  such  a  procedure  would  be  viewed  as 
"the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  to  the 
United  States,"  and  that  it  would  not  be  looked  upon 
with  indifference  by  them. 

The  doctrine  was  first  suggested  to  President  Mon- 
roe by  Mr.  Canning.  Canning  himself  would  have 
been  considerably  astonished  had  he  seen  the  result  of 
his  suggestion.  He  said  that  he  regarded  his  recog- 
nition of  the  Republics  of  Mexico  and  Colombia  as  an 
act  which  would  make  a  change  in  the  face  of  the 

229 


Original  Interpretation 

world,  almost  as  great  as  that  of  the  discovery  of  the 
continent  now  set  free.     He  went  on  to  say : — 

"The  Yankees  will  shout  in  triumph,  but  it  is  they  who 
lose  most  by  our  decision.  The  great  danger  of  the  time,  a 
danger  which  the  policy  of  the  European  system  would  have 
fostered,  was  a  division  of  the  world  into  European  and 
American,  Republican  and  Monarchical,  a  league  of  wander- 
ing Governments  on  the  one  hand,  and  developing  and  stirring 
nations  with  the  United  States  at  their  head  on  the  other.  We 
slip  in  between,  and  plant  ourselves  in  Mexico.  The  United 
States  have  gotten  the  start  of  us  in  vain,  and  they  link  once 
more  America  to  Europe." 

This  linking  of  America  to  Europe  was  the  one 
thing  which  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  now  invoked  in 
order  to  render  impossible. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  primarily  concerned  South 
and  Central  America.  Its  original  justification  was  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Republican  Government  of 
the  United  States  to  exclude  from  the  New  World  the 
despotic  system  that  prevails  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  Hence  its  avowed  motive  when  it  was  pro- 
mulgated was  anti-monarchical  rather  than  anti- 
European.  It  originated  with  Canning,  and  was 
prompted  by  a  horror  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  which  was 
regarded  both  in  England  and  America  as  a  conspiracy 
of  despots  against  human  liberty. 

If  Canning  and  Monroe,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the 
joint  authors  of  the  doctrine  in  its  first  promulgation, 
had  been  cross-examined  as  to  their  motives,  they 
would  have  ridiculed  the  idea  that  the  new  policy  had 
any  other  motive  than  that  of  securing  the  New  World 
for  free  Governments  and  of  confining  despotism  to  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere.  But  in  the  formulation  of  the 
230 


Present  Application 

doctrine  they  were  not  careful  to  distinguish  between 
a  despotic  and  a  monarchical  Power,  and  they  used  the 
word  European  as  a  synonym  for  monarchical 
despotism. 

In  that  sense  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  proclaimed, 
and  in  that  sense  it  was  always  interpreted  down  to  the 
time  of  its  great  revival  six  years  ago,  at  the  time  of 
the  Venezuelan  dispute.  Then  the  Americans,  ignor- 
ing the  original  objective  of  the  doctrine,  used  it  in 
order  to  protest  against  an  extension  of  British 
dominion  in  South  America.  The  British  Empire 
was  a  European  Monarchy,  and  therefore  technically 
came  under  the  ban  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  Yet  not 
even  Mr.  Cleveland  nor  Mr.  Olney  would  have  ven- 
tured seriously  to  assert  that  a  British  colony  was  less 
free  or  less  progressive  than  the  half-breed  Republic  of 
Venezuela  or  the  dictatorial  Republic  of  Mexico. 

What  Mr.  W.  D.  Howells  said  on  the  subject  would 
have  been  admitted  by  all  educated  Americans,  namely, 
that  the  constitutional  monarchies  of  England,  Scan- 
dinavia and  Italy  were  in  essence  Republican,  although 
they  still  retained  their  monarchical  trappings.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  distinct  abuse  of  the  spirit  of  the  doctrine 
by  using  its  letter  for  the  purpose  of  forbidding  an 
extension  of  a  British  colony  at  the  expense  of  a  nom- 
inal Republic. 

This,  however,  is  a  purely  academical  point,  because 
there  is  no  desire  on  the  part  of  any  Englishman  to 
annex  any  portion  of  South  or  Central  America.  In- 
deed there  is  reason  to  believe  that  we  are  at  the  present 
moment  in  negotiation  for  the  transfer  of  our  juris- 

23* 


Roosevelt's  Definition 

diction  over  the  Mosquito  Indian  to  the  Republic  of 
Nicaragua.  But  it  is  well  to  raise  this  point,  in  order 
to  show  the  process  by  which  the  Monroe  Doctrine  at- 
tained its  present  development.  The  original  motive 
has  disappeared.  It  is  not  in  order  to  secure  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  for  free  institutions  that  the  doctrine 
is  maintained. 

It  is  in  order  to  exclude  European  States  as  Euro- 
pean States,  whether  they  be  constitutional  or  mo- 
narchical. The  nature  of  their  Governments  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it,  and  a  formula  originally  invented 
to  put  limits  upon  the  spread  of  despotism,  is  now  in- 
voked in  the  first  place  as  a  measure  of  self-protection 
for  the  United  States  of  America ;  in  the  second,  in 
order  to  exclude  Europe  from  America.  This  may 
be  right,  or  it  may  be  wrong.  It  is  not  the  original 
doctrine. 

President  Roosevelt's  inaugural  message  supplied 
the  world  with  a  clear,  explicit  and  authoritative  ex- 
position of  what  the  Americans  mean  when  they  speak 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The  passage  is  so  important 
that  it  is  well  to  quote  it  in  full. 

"This  doctrine  should  be  the  cardinal  feature  of  the 
foreign  policy  of  all  nations  of  the  two  Americas.  It 
is  in  no  wise  intended  to  be  hostile  to  any  nation  of 
the  Old  World,  and  still  less  is  it  intended  to  give  cover 
to  any  aggression  by  one  of  the  New  World  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another.  It  is  simply  a  long  step  towards 
assuring  the  universal  peace  of  the  world  by  securing 
the  possibility  of  permanent  peace  in  this  hemisphere. 

"During  the  century  other  influences  have  established 

232 


Roosevelt's  Definition 

a  permanence  of  independence  among  the  smaller 
States  of  Europe,  through  a  doctrine,  and  we  hope  to 
be  able  to  safeguard  like  independence  and  secure  like 
permanence  for  the  lesser  States  among  the  New 
World  nations.  The  doctrine  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  commercial  relations  of  any  American  Power,  save, 
in  truth,  that  it  allows  each  to  form  such  as  it  desires, 
It  is  really  a  guarantee  of  the  commercial  independence 
of  the  Americans. 

"We  do  not  ask  under  the  doctrine  any  exclusive 
commercial  dealings  with  any  other  American  State; 
we  do  not  guarantee  any  State  against  punishment  for 
misconduct,  provided  the  punishment  does  not  take 
the  form  of  the  acquisition  of  territory  by  any  non- 
American  Power ;  and  we  have  not  the  slightest  desire 
to  secure  any  territory  from  our  neighbors.  We  wish 
to  work  with  them  hand  in  hand,  so  that  all  of  us  may 
get  lifted  up  together.  We  rejoice  over  the  good  for- 
tune of  any  of  them,  and  gladly  hail  their  material 
prosperity  and  political  stability,  and  are  concerned 
and  alarmed  if  any  fall  into  industrial  or  political 
chaos.  We  do  not  wish  to  see  any  Old  World  military 
Power  grow  up  on  this  continent,  or  to  be  compelled 
to  become  a  military  Power  ourselves. 

"The  peoples  of  the  Americas  can  prosper  best  if  left 
to  work  out  their  own  salvation  in  their  own  way. 
The  work  of  building  up  the  navy  must  steadily  con- 
tinue. All  we  want  is  peace,  and  towards  this  end  we 
wish  to  be  able  to  secure  the  same  respect  for  our 
rights  from  others  which  we  are  eager  and  anxious 
to  extend  to  their  rights  in  return.  To  insure  fair 

233 


Political  and  Commercial 

treatment  of  the  United  States  commercially,  and  to 
guarantee  the  safety  of  the  American  people,  our 
people  intend  to  insist  upon  the  Monroe  Doctrine  as 
the  one  sure  means  of  securing  peace  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  The  navy  offers  the  only  means  of  mak- 
ing our  insistence  upon  the  doctrine  anything  but  a 
subject  of  derision  to  whatever  nation  chooses  to  dis- 
regard it.  We  desire  the  peace  which  comes  as  of 
right  to  the  just  man  armed,  not  the  peace  granted  on 
terms  of  ignominy  to  a  craven  and  weakling." 

This  is  definite,  both  in  what  it  affirms  and  what  it 
denies.  But  it  is  well  to  note  that  the  President  has 
put  his  foot  down  definitely  upon  the  assumption  that 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  has  anything  to  do  with  com- 
merce beyond  allowing  each  American  State  to  make 
what  commercial  treaties  it  chooses.  We  do  not  ask, 
he  says,  for  any  exclusive  commercial  dealings  with 
any  American  State.  But  only  a-  fortnight  before  the 
President  laid  down  the  law  in  this  positive  fashion, 
General  James  H.  Wilson,  addressing  the  American 
Free  Trade  League,  gave  the  Monroe  Doctrine  an 
extension  which  he  put  forward  as  a  plea  for  Free 
Trade,  but  which  could  be  used  in  a  very  different 
sense  by  American  Protectionists.  General  WTilson 
said : — 


"Inasmuch  as  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine  we  have  as- 
sumed the  burden  of  protecting  the  neighboring  states  from 
foreign  aggression,  the  question  naturally  arises:  Why  should 
we  not  try  to  get  some  commercial  advantage  from  them 
which,  while  it  may  make  them  richer  and  stronger,  would  in 
a  measure  compensate  us  for  our  trouble  and  expense?  They 
are  clearly  under  the  American  hegemony,  and  if  the  Monroe 

234 


Overlordship  not  Intended 

Doctrine  is  to  be  maintained,  they  are  clearly  within  the 
American  system  of  public  law.  That  is,  our  national  will 
must  prevail  in  all  cases  where  we  choose  to  assert  it,  if  we 
are  strong  enough  to  enforce  it,  and  we  are  pledged  to  en- 
force it  in  all  cases  where  European  governments  seriously 
encroach  upon  the  territorial  integrity  or  the  sovereignty  of 
any  American  State. 

"Under  this  aspect  of  our  relations  with  them,  why  should 
the  United  States  not  say  frankly  to  all  the  States  of  North 
America,  at  least,  we  will  agree  to  absolute  and  reciprocal 
free  trade  in  natural  and  manufactured  products,  between  our 
country  and  all  its  dependencies,  wherever  situated,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  all  the  immediately  neighboring  countries  on  the 
other,  under  a  uniform  tariff  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  parties 
to  the  arrangement,  and  to  be  carried  into  effect  as  against 
all  other  countries?" 


He  admitted  that  it  would  prejudicially  effect 
European  trade,  especially  the  trade  of  Great  Britain 
with  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  He  further  looked  for- 
ward to  an  extension  of  the  same  principle  to  all  the 
South  American  Republics.  This,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
pure  and  simple.  I  only  note  it  by  the  way  as  indica- 
tive of  a  tendency  to  give  that  doctrine  an  expansion 
which  it  does  not  properly  possess,  and  to  note  that 
President  Roosevelt  has  rigidly  confined  it  to  the 
political  area. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  the  President  expressly 
repudiates  the  theory  which  some  of  his  friends  have 
expressed  in  very  vigorous  terms  that  the  United 
States  should  undertake  the  responsibility  of  exercising 
general  overlordship  over  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
Central  and  South  American  States.  The  passage  in 
his  message,  which  will  be  read  with  most  interest  in 
Germany,  is  that  in  which  he  said  that  the  United 
States  do  not  guarantee  any  State  against  punishment 

235 


Dominance  Without  Territory 

for  misconduct,  provided  that  the  punishment  does  not 
take  the  form  of  the  acquisition  of  territory  by  any 
non-American  Power. 

From  this  it  follows  that  if  any  South  American 
State  should  find  itself  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  any 
European  Power,  the  United  States  has  now  repudiated 
in  advance  any  right  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to 
protect  such  American  State  from  European  attack. 
If  Germany,  for  instance,  had  a  grievance  against 
Venezuela  which  she  maintained  rendered  it  necessary 
for  her  to  inflict  punishment  upon  that  republic,  the 
American  Government  could  not,  in  face  of  President 
Roosevelt's  declaration,  raise  any  objection  if  the 
German  Fleet  escorted  a  German  Army  Corps  across 
the  Atlantic,  if  the  Army  Corps  were  landed  upon 
Venezuelan  territory,  occupied  the  capital,  and  im- 
posed any  terms  by  the  will  of  the  conqueror  upon  the 
conquered,  so  long  as  the  Germans  did  not  stipulate 
for  the  acquisition  of  territory  by  Germany. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  acquire  territory  in  order 
to  establish  non-American  ascendancy  in  the  country 
in  which  the  punitive  expeditions  of  unlimited  severity 
and  duration  are  permitted  by  the  United  States. 
Americans  are  perfectly  well  aware  of  the  precedent 
of  Egypt.  Germany  could  not  possibly  make  more 
emphatic  protests  as  to  her  intention  to  evacuate  South 
American  territory  than  Mr.  Gladstone  made  as  to  our 
determination  to  withdraw  our  garrison  from  the  Nile 
delta 

What  is  more,  Mr.  Gladstone  made  his  declarations 
in  perfect  good  faith,  and  intended  to  carry  out  his 
pledges.  But  nearly  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since, 
236 


A  Punitive  Expedition 

with  the  battle  of  Tel-el-Kebir,  the  control  of  Egypt 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Great  Britain.  England  has 
not  annexed  a  square  yard  of  territory  in  Egypt,  but 
from  that  day  to  this  the  will  of  England  has  been  law 
in  Cairo  and  Alexandria. 

What  is  to  hinder  the  Germans  improving  upon  the 
English  precedents?  They  can  accept  with  both 
hands  the  interdict  upon  the  acquisition  of  territory. 
All  they  would  need  to  do  would  be  to  impose  upon 
the  offending  state  a  sufficiently  heavy  financial  pen- 
alty, and  to  insist  upon  occupying  certain  points  of 
vantage  until  the  money  was  paid,  or  at  least  until  a 
government  should  be  established  in  the  country  with 
sufficient  solidity  to  satisfy  them  that  they  would  not 
have  their  punitive  expedition  to  do  over  again  as  soon 
as  the  last  man  of  the  expeditionary  force  was  em- 
barked upon  the  German  transports. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  President  Roosevelt  should 
endeavor  to  repudiate  any  responsibility  to  shield  the 
Southern  and  Central  American  Republics  from  pun- 
ishment for  misbehavior,  because  any  attempt  to  pre- 
vent the  European  Powers  from  avenging  their  own 
wrongs  would  have  entailed  upon  the  American  Gov- 
ernment the  effective  exercise  of  the  duties  of  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  which  Mr. 
Olney  claimed,  but  which  no  American  statesman  is 
prepared  to  exercise. 

If  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  really  to  be  enforced  in 
spirit  as  well  as  in  letter,  and  the  European  Powers 
are  to  be  forbidden  to  establish  themselves  in  South 
America,  the  United  States  will  have  to  reconsider  its 
policy  and  prepare  to  shoulder  the  burden  of  answer- 

237 


One  Way  Out 

ing  for  the  maintenance  of  international  law  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  American  Continent.  They  may 
hope  to  evade  it,  and  the  occasion  may  not  arise  for 
some  time  to  come.  But  by  leaving  the  door  open  for 
punitive  expeditions  .{0  be  conducted  at  the  discretion 
of  each  and  all  of  the  European  Powers,  President 
Roosevelt  has  given  the  Kaiser  the  opening  which  he 
needs  if  he  really  cares  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

I  have  said  that  President  Roosevelt  felt  that  he  was 
compelled  to  concede  to  European  Powers  the  right 
to  punish  South  American  Republics  as  the  only  al- 
ternative to  the  assumption  by  the  United  States  of 
the  functions  of  the  Chief  Justiceship  of  the  world. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  Americans  will  dis- 
cover a  via  media,  which  will  enable  them  to  avoid  the 
obvious  dangers  resulting  from  European  punitive 
expeditions  directed  against  South  and  Central  Amer- 
ican States,  and  the  assumption  of  the  office  of  an  in- 
ternational sheriff  who  undertakes  the  duty  of  en- 
forcing respect  for  law  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
vast  expanse  of  territory. 

What  is  there  to  hinder  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica from  laying  down  the  law  that,  whenever  any 
European  State  has  a  grievance  against  any  South 
American  Republic,  it  shall  not  be  free  to  redress  its 
alleged  wrong  until  it  has  submitted  the  whole  ques- 
tion to  an  International  Tribunal  of  Arbitration,  whose 
award  the  United  States  Government  will  undertake, 
with  the  aid  of  the  other  American  States,  to  enforce? 
This  would  certainly  minimize  the  evils  which  are  in- 
herent in  both  the  courses,  which  are  at  present  re- 
garded as  the  only  alternatives.  Arbitration  would 

238 


Olney's  Declaration 

in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  lead  to  an  amicable  settlement 
of  a  quarrel,  and  in  the  tenth  case  the  United  States 
would  not  stand  alone  in  enforcing  respect  for  the  tri- 
bunals which  the  recalcitrant  State  first  invoked,  and 
then  rejected. 

Certainly  some  such  solution  is  urgently  to  be  de- 
sired. Italy  and  Germany  regard  the  vast  half- 
peopled  South  American  Continent  as  the  natural 
Hinterland  for  the  overflow  of  their  population.  Dis- 
putes are  inevitable,  and  prescient  statesmen  would  do 
well  to  provide  in  advance  for  their  amicable  settle- 
ment; and  the  advantages  of  a  system  which  would 
forbid  all  punitive  expeditions  across  the  Atlantic 
which  would  not  entail  the  assumption  of  any  onerous 
responsibilities  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  will 
naturally  commend  itself  more  and  more  to  the  sober 
common-sense  of  the  American  people. 

When  Mr.  Olney,  President  Cleveland's  Secretary 
of  State,  .claimed  for  the  United  States  that  it  was 
"practically  sovereign  on  this  Continent,  and  its  fiat  is 
law  upon  the  subjects  to  which  it  confines  its  inter- 
position," he  startled  the  Old  World  a  little,  but  he 
scared  the  New  World  much  more.  For  while  none 
of  the  European  Powers,  with  the  somewhat  dubious 
exception  of  Germany,  have  any  aspirations  after  terri- 
tory in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  there  is  not  a  govern- 
ment in  Southern  or  Central  America  that  does  not  re- 
gard with  undisguised  alarm  the  claim  of  the  big 
brother  with  a  big  stick  way  up  in  the  North  to  exer- 
cise lordship  or  dominion  over  them. 

Recognizing  the  existence  of  this  feeling  of  alarm, 
Mr.  Secretary  Hay,  in  his  speech  to  the  New  York 

239 


The  Menace  of  War 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  made  the  following  declaration 
with  a  view  to  allaying  the  uneasiness  which  undoubt- 
edly prevails  as  to  the  possible  consequences  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  as  interpreted  and  extended  by  Mr. 
Olney's  declaration  :•»"!  think  I  may  say  that  our  sister 
Republics  in  the  South  are  perfectly  convinced  of  the 
sincerity  of  our  attitude.  They  know  we  desire  the 
prosperity  of  each  and  peace  and  harmony  among  them. 
We  no  more  want  their  territory  than  we  covet  the 
mountains  of  the  moon.  We  are  grieved  and  dis- 
tressed when  there  are  differences  among  them,  but 
even  then  we  should  never  think  of  trying  to  compose 
those  differences  unless  by  the  request  of  the  parties 
thereto.  We  owe  them  all  the  consideration  which  we 
claim  for  ourselves.  To  the  critics  of  various  climates 
who  have  other  views  of  our  purposes,  we  can  only 
wish  fuller  information  and  quieter  consciences." 

Notwithstanding  Mr.  Hay's  assurance,  it  seems  to 
outsiders  that  the  instinct  of  the  South  American 
governments  it  perfectly  sound.  The  Monroe  Doc- 
trine demands  as  its  necessary  logical  corollary  the 
assumption  by  the  United  States  of  the  right  and  the 
power  to  compel  the  other  American  States  to  refrain 
from  actions  which  would  give  European  Powers  a 
legitimate  casus  belli.  If  European  Powers  are 
left  to  their  own  resources  when  face  to  face  with 
Southern  or  Central  American  Republics,  they  will  of 
necessity  follow  the  time-honored  path. 

They  will  send  first  a  man-of-war,  then  a  squadron, 
they  will  declare  war,  despatch  troops  and  do  their  best 
to  seize  the  enemy's  capital.  Of  course  they  may  do 
all  this,  and  if  when  they  conclude  peace  they  evacuate 

,240 


American  Suzerainty 

the  occupied  territory  and  make  no  attempt  to  annex 
American  soil,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  will  be  left  intact. 
But  the  risk  is  very  great,  that  if  a  European  Power 
once  establishes  its  troops  as  conquerors  in  a  position 
of  vantage  on  the  American  Continent,  it  will  be  very 
difficult  to  turn  them  out  without  actual  menace  of 
war. 

Not  only  so,  but  the  experience  of  the  United  States 
in  Cuba  is  sufficient  to  show  how  easy  it  is  to  establish 
political  paramountcy  over  a  territory  without  annexa- 
tion. The  Monroe  Doctrine  says  nothing  about  para- 
mountcy. It  relates  solely  to  the  extension  of  terri- 
torial possessions.  If,  therefore,  President  Roose- 
velt is  anxious  to  keep  Europe  out  of  America  he  will 
be  driven  either  by  mediation,  friendly  offices,  or  by 
downright  intervention  to  prevent  disputes  between 
European  and  American  States  ever  coming  to  blows. 

That  in  the  long  run  will  practically  mean  that  all  the 
Central  and  South  American  Republics,  while  nomi- 
nally sovereign  international  States,  are  really  subject 
to  the  suzerainty  of  Uncle  Sam,  and  all  serious  diplo- 
matic business  will  be  settled  at  Washington.  It  may 
be  very  good  for  the  South  American  States  thus  to 
have  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  diplomatic  questions 
taken  out  of  their  hands.  The  case  of  Venezuela  offers 
an  excellent  illustration  of  the  advantage  which  such 
States  occasionally  reap  from  the  timely  intervention 
of  the  big  brother  from  the  North,  but  they  do  not 
like  it  all  the  same.  The  small  powers  dread  the\ 
great  State  which  is  so  strong  that  the  fear  of  man  is 
never  before  its  eyes  and  which  is  so  supremely  con- 
scious of  its  own  absolute  rectitude  that  even  when  it 

24* 


Union  Unnatural 

makes  war  it  is  calmly  confident  that  it  is  acting  as 
the  Vicegerent  of  the  Almighty.  So  keen  is  this  dis- 
trust that  a  very  well  informed  American  assured  me 
this  year  that  England  never  made  a  greater  mistake  in 
her  own  interest  wher^she  refused  to  settle  the  Alaskan 
difficulty  by  arbitration,  because  the  American  Govern- 
ment had  stipulated  that  the  umpire  must  be  an  Amer- 
ican. "If,"  said  my  friend,  who  was  a  lawyer,  de- 
servedly much  esteemed  in  the  highest  Governmental 
circles,  "if  I  were  pleading  before  such  a  Court  I 
should  have  addressed  myself  solely  to  winning  over 
one  of  the  English  judges.  It  would  have  been  hope- 
less to  make  any  South  or  Central  American  judge 
admit  anything  in  favor  of  the  United  States.  Eng- 
land would  have  had  the  umpire's  decision  in  her 
pocket  before  the  case  opened,  and  have  it  every 
time."  The  existence  of  such  a  sentiment  of  distrust 
is  more  likely  than  anything  else  to  provoke  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Washington  Government  that  will  pre- 
cipitate the  extension  of  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  over  the  whole  Western  Hemisphere. 

If  Mr.  Olney's  claim  for  his  country  to  be  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  excited  some 
protest,  it  was  nothing  to  the  indignation  provoked  by 
his  frank  intimation  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  Amer- 
ican nation  it  is  "unnatural"  that  any  European  State 
should  possess  territory  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Mr.  Olney  said :  "That  distance  and  three  thousand 
miles  of  intervening  ocean  make  any  permanent  polit- 
ical union  between  a  European  and  an  American  State 
unnatural  and  inexpedient  will  hardly  be  denied." 

Lord  Salisbury  denied  it  at  once.     But  since  then 

242 


European  Possessions 


Spain  has  been  deprived  of  her  American  possessions 
by  war,  while  Denmark  is  currently  reported  to  have 
sold  her  West  Indian  Islands  to  the  United  States  for 
a  little  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  million  pounds 
sterling. 

The  following  are  the  American  territories  still  re- 
maining under  European  flags : — 


Country. 

Area, 
Square  miles. 

Population, 
1890. 

Denmark  : 
Greenland.  . 

34.015 

10,516 

France  : 
St.  Pierre     .                                  ) 

Miquelon                                           j 

go 

5,983 

Guadaloupe 

721 

165,154 

Martinique. 

381 

175,863 

St.  Bartholomew 

8 

2,898 

French  Guiana 

30,000 

25,796 

Great  Britain  : 
Canada. 

3,315,647 

4,832,679 

Newfoundland  

40,  200 

193,121 

Labrador  

120,000 

4,211 

Bermuda  
British  Honduras  

19 
8,291 

15.743 
27,668 

Jamaica  

4,192 

639,491 

Trinidad  

1,754 

198,747 

Barbadoes  

1  66 

182,206 

Bahamas  

4,466 

49,  500 

Eleven   other   West  Indian  Is-  ( 
lands  or  groups     .                       J 

1,500 

250,000 

British  Guiana 

109,000 

287,981 

Netherlands  : 
St.  Martin       .    .                              , 

Curacao  .                                           f 

227 

29,729 

Dutch  Guiana  

46,000 

74,132 

243 


Of  Concern  to  England 

From  this  list  it  appears  that,  excluding  the  posses- 
sions of  Great  Britain,  the  only  foothold  the  European 
Powers  have  on  the  American  Continent  are  in  Guiana 
and  in  Greenland.  Greenland  does  not  matter  as  it 
is  a  wilderness  of  ice*  and  snow. 

All  that  Europe  holds  on  the  mainland  is  limited  to 
Surinam  and  Cayenne,  a  stretch  of  territory  covering 
76,000  square  miles,  on  which  only  100,000  persons 
can  find  a  living.  So  far,  therefore,  as  serving  notice 
to  quit  upon  Europeans  may  be  regarded  as  serious,  it 
concerns  England,  and  England  alone. 

It  is  not  likely  that  England,  with  whom  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  first  originated,  will  do  anything  calcu- 
lated to  bring  down  the  wrath  of  President  Roosevelt 
on  her  head.  So  long  as  we  do  not  attempt  to  extend 
our  territory  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  we  may 
take  it  that  no  objection  will  be  taken — pace  Mr.  Olney 
— to  our  maintaining  the  territorial  status  quo.  Beati 
possidentes. 

So  far  so  good,  but  we  can  hardly  acquiesce  without 
at  least  a  passing  protest  against  the  assumption  so 
constantly  made  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
that  no  one  is  an  American  excepting  those  resident 
within  the  frontiers  of  the  Republic.  Canadians  are 
every  whit  as  much  Americans  as  their  neighbors  south 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Nor  can  Great  Britain  agree 
to  the  demand  that  they  shall  forfeit  any  of  the  inher- 
ent rights  which  they  possess  as  Americans  because 
for  reasons  of  their  own  they  prefer  to  remain  in  con- 
nection with  the  British  Empire. 

At  the  same  time  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  what- 
244 


No  Coaling  Stations 

ever  exception  we  may  take  to  Mr.  Olney's  doctrine 
as  to  the  permanent  union  between  Great  Britain  and 
her  American  colonies  being  unnatural  and  inexpedi- 
ent, there  is  at  least  considerable  probability  that  our 
Colonists  themselves  may  come  to  be  of  his  way  of 
thinking.  To  say  this  is  not  in  any  way  to  endorse 
the  views  of  Professor  Goldwin  Smith,  who  has  this 
autumn  repeated  once  more  his  oft-stated  conviction 
that  the  majority  of  the  Canadians  desire  to  throw  in 
their  destinies  with  the  United  States.  It  is  merely 
to  register  the  conclusions  arrived  at  after  a  cool,  dis- 
passionate survey  of  the  forces  which  are  in  action 
within  and  without  the  Canadian  Dominion. 

It  would  seem  that  the  acquisition  by  any  European 
power  of  a  coaling-station  would  be  resisted  as  stren- 
uously as  the  conquest  of  a  tract  of  territory  on  the 
mainland.  That  this  is  no  exaggeration  is  shown  by 
the  hubbub  that  was  raised  quite  recently  by  the  an- 
nouncement that  a  German  steamship  company  wished 
to  acquire  a  coaling-station  off  the  coast  of  Venezuela ; 
a  hubbub  which  only  subsided  on  the  formal  and  em- 
phatic disclaimer  by  the  German  Ambassador  at  Wash- 
ington that  no  such  acquisition  was  contemplated  by 
the  German  Government.  On  hearing  this  declaration 
we  are  told  that  President  Roosevelt  expressed  his 
great  satisfaction.  The  incident  is  regarded  as  finally 
closing  the  door  upon  the  acquisition  of  any  coaling- 
station  by  a  foreign  Power  in  any  part  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

By  a  further  process  of  extension,  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine is  held  to  forbid  the  transfer  of  any  territory 

245 


The  Danish  West  Indies 

now  held  by  a  European  Power  to  any  other  European 
Power.  The  Danes,  for  instance,  have  three  small 
islands  in  the  West  Indies,  which  are  no  use  to  them, 
and  which  the  United  States  are  believed  to  be  willing 
to  buy.  The  Danes  would  be  only  too  delighted  to 
exchange  the  islands  in  the  West  Indies  if,  instead  of 
selling  to  the  United  States,  they  could  do  a  deal  with 
the  German  Empire,  and  hand  over  their  West  Indian 
Islands  in  exchange  for  North  Schleswig,  in  which 
several  hundred  thousand  Danes  groan  under  the  dom- 
ination of  Germany. 

Although  it  has  never  been  officially  stated,  it  is  per- 
fectly well  understood  that  the  United  States  would 
object  to  any  transfer  of  the  Danish  possessions  to  the 
German  Empire.  There  is  no  probability  of  the  Ger- 
mans being  willing  to  exchange  North  Schleswig  for 
the  West  Indian  Islands ;  but  they  would  probably  be 
very  glad  to  acquire  these  islands  by  outbidding  the 
Americans  in  the  matter  of  purchase-money.  The 
Monroe  Doctrine,  however,  deprives  Denmark  of  an 
open  market.  She  can  only  sell  to  the  United  States, 
if  she  sells  at  all. 

Even  without  any  direct  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  effectively  to  assert  the  overlordship 
claimed  by  Mr.  Olney,  there  is  no  State  in  South 
America  which  does  not  regard  the  possible  develop- 
ment of  American  designs  with  ill-concealed  suspicion 
and  alarm.  It  was  this  motive  which  prompted  the 
assembly  last  year  at  Madrid  of  a  congress  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Latin  States  of  America  for  the 
purpose  of  endeavoring  to  re-establish  the  influence  of 
246 


....     ^ 


'         • 


EUROPE  AND  AMERICA  COMPARED. 


CENTRAL  AMERICA  AND  THE  RIVAL  CANALS. 


Pan-American  Arbitration 

Spain,  which  had  been  badly  shaken  by  the  Cuban  war. 

If  there  is  one  thing  which  would  dispose  any  of  the 
South  American  States  to  accept  a  German  Alliance,  it 
would  be  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  absolutely 
impossible  the  establishment  of  a  protectorate  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States.  This  road,  therefore,  be- 
ing closed,  North  Americans  are  diligently  setting 
themselves  to  ward  off  the  danger  of  European  inter- 
vention by  the  other  road  that  is  open  to  them, 
namely,  by  the  establishment  of  the  system  of  arbitra- 
tion which  would  minimize  the  dangers  of  internecine 
war  between  the  South  American  Republics  them- 
selves, and  establish  a  system  by  which  difficulties  with 
foreign  Powers  might  be  settled  without  an  appeal  to 
the  last  dread  arbitrament  of  war. 

For  this  purpose  for  the  last  twenty  years  it  has  been 
a  fixed  object  of  American  policy  to  promote  what  may 
be  called  a  Pan-American  system  of  Arbitration,  of 
which  the  Congress  which  assembled  in  November  in 
the  capital  of  Mexico  is  the  latest  and  most  conspic- 
uous sign. 


247 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Sixth 

On  International  Arbitration 

IN  discussing  the  influence  which  the  Americans 
have  exercised  upon  the  world  at  large,  reference 
must  be  made  to  the  one  great  international  question 
in  which  they  have  uniformly  been  a  potent  force  in 
favor  of  the  cause  of  progress  and  civilization.  I 
refer  to  the  question  of  international  arbitration. 

The  principle  of  settling  disputes  between  Sovereign 
States  by  reference  to  a  judicial  or  arbitral  tribunal 
formed  the  very  foundation  of  the  American  Consti- 
tution. The  fact  that  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  there  are 
to  be  found  no  frontiers  bristling  with  cannon,  no 
standing  armies  to  defend  the  millions  of  the  forty- 
two  standing  sovereign  States  banded  together  in 
Federal  union,  is  due  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic 
having  created,  as  the  very  corner-stone  of  their 
union,  a  Supreme  Court  of  Justice,  authorized  to  ad- 
judicate upon  all  questions  in  dispute  between  any  of 
the  federating  States. 
248 


The  First  Arbitration 

Accustomed  from  the  very  birth  of  the  Republic 
to  the  spectacle  of  State  differences  being  adjudi- 
cated upon  not  by  the  bloody  arbitrament  of  war, 
but  by  the  judicial  decision  of  a  supreme  tribunal, 
the  Americans  naturally  attempted  to  create  some 
tribunal  competent  to  settle  amicably  disputes  be- 
tween other  nations. 

The  principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  have  become  part  of  the  atmosphere  of  the 
American  citizen.  He  may  try  to  get  outside  it,  but 
he  seldom  succeeds ;  and  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously he  perpetually  suggests  the  application  of 
the  principles  of  that  Constitution  to  the  solution  of 
almost  all  the  difficulties  which  arise  in  the  outside 
world.  Hence  it  was  natural  that  the  movement  in 
favor  of  international  arbitration  should  have  found 
in  the  American  people  intelligent  and  enthusiastic 
support. 

As  Great  Britain  was  the  power  with  which  the 
United  States  came  into  most  immediate  contact, 
and  therefore  developed  most  points  of  friction,  it 
was  equally  natural  that  the  principle  of  arbitration 
should  have  been  first  brought  into  active  operation  for 
the  settlement  of  disputes  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain. 

The  first  arbitration  between  the  two  countries 
took  place  in  1816,  when  a  dispute  arose  about  the 
St.  Croix  River,  and  the  Lake  boundaries.  A  few 
years  later  a  question  arising  out  of  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent  was  referred  to  the  arbitration  oi  the  Emperor 
of  Russia. 

249 


Following  the  Example 

In  1827  a  question  about  the  northeastern  bound- 
ary of  the  United  States  was  referred  to  the  arbitra- 
tion of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands.  In  1853  a  dis- 
pute about  some  liberated  slaves  was  settled  by  ar- 
bitration, and  in  1863  a  difference  that  arose  between 
the  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Puget  Sound  Company  was 
also  settled  in  the  same  way. 

The  great  arbitration,  however,  which  constitutes 
a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the  two  countries,  was 
that  by  which  the  Alabama  claims  under  the  Treaty 
of  Washington  of  1871  were  referred  to  the  Geneva 
Tribunal.  In  the  same  year  the  disputed  San  Juan 
boundary  was  referred  to  the  arbitration  of  the  Ger- 
man Emperor,  and  a  further  dispute  about  the  Nova 
Scotia  fishery  was  also  settled  amicably. 

In  1891  the  question  of  the  seal  fisheries  in  the 
Bering  Sea  was  referred  to  a  Court  of  Arbitration  in 
Paris,  and  the  long  list  of  Anglo-American  arbitra- 
tions was  closed  by  that  which  settled  the  disputed 
boundary  between  the  British  Empire  and  the  Republic 
of  Venezuela  in  1899.  No  other  two  nations  in  the 
world  have  had  so  many  arbitrations  as  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States. 

The  English-speaking  States  have  not  been  content 
with  endeavoring  to  influence  the  world  by  the  force 
of  their  example.  They  committed  themselves 
nearly  thirty  years  ago  to  an  active  support  of  the 
principle,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  text  of  the  following 
resolution  which  was  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress in  the  year  1874: — 


250 


Carnegie's  Attitude 

"Received  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized  and  re- 
quested to  negotiate  with  all  civilized  Powers  who  may  be 
willing  to  enter  into  such  negotiation  for  the  establishment 
of  an  international  system,  whereby  matters  in  dispute  be- 
tween different  Governments  agreeing  thereto  may  be  ad- 
justed by  Arbitration,  and  if  possible  without  recourse  to 
war." 

In  1890,  Congress  again  in  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature  passed  the  following  resolution : — 

"That  the  President  be  and  is  hereby  requested  to  invite, 
from  time  to  time,  as  fit  occasions  may  arise,  negotiations 
with  any  Government  with  which  the  United  States  has,  or 
may  have,  diplomatic  relations,  to  the  end  that  any  differ- 
ences or  disputes  arising  between  the  two  Governments  which 
cannot  be  adjusted  by  diplomatic  agency,  may  be  referred  to 
Arbitration,  and  be  peaceably  adjusted  by  such  means." 

In  1895  Senator  Sherman  introduced  a  bill  for  the 
purpose  of  enabling  the  President  to  give  effect  to  the 
resolution  of  1890  by  authorizing  him  to  conduct 
negotiations  through  the  regular  diplomatic  agents 
of  the  United  States,  or  at  his  discretion  to  appoint 
a  commission  to  visit  the  Governments  of  other 
countries  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  negotia- 
tions in  order  to  create  an  international  arbitration 
tribunal  or  other  means  by  which  disputes  may  be 
amicably  settled  and  war  averted. 

When  the  Venezuelan  dispute  arose,  President 
Cleveland  evoked  a  storm  of  enthusiastic  approval 
by  formulating  his  demand  for  arbitration.  Mr.  Car- 
negie, the  most  peaceful  of  men,  declared  that  arbitra- 
tion was  the  one  thing  in  the  world  for  which  he  was 
willing  to  fight.  Mr.  Olney  laid  down  the  law  that 

25* 


The  Treaty  That  Failed 

war  was  condemnable  as  a  relic  of  barbarism  and  a 
crime  in  itself,  and  there  was  only  one  possible  way 
of  determining  the  question,  namely,  by  peaceful 
arbitration. 

The  American  demand  thus  enthusiastically  sup- 
ported by  the  American  people  compelled  Lord  Salis- 
bury to  abandon  his  position.  Then  an  attempt  was 
made  to  create  a  permanent  treaty  of  arbitration  be- 
tween the  two  States,  but  unfortunately  nothing  has 
yet  been  done  to  give  effect  to  the  wishes  that  were 
thus  expressed. 

In  1890  the  official  representatives  of  seventeen 
American  Republics  assembled  at  Washington  and 
passed  the  following  resolution,  which  was  subse- 
quently accepted  by  sixteen  of  the  Republics,  includ- 
ing Brazil : — 

"The  Republics  of  North,  Central,  and  South  America 
hereby  adopt  Arbitration  as  a  principle  of  American  Inter- 
national Law,  for  the  settlement  of  all  differences,  disputes, 
or  controversies  that  may  arise  between  them  concerning 
diplomatic  and  consular  privileges,  boundaries,  territories, 
indemnities,  right  of  navigation,  and  the  validity,  construc- 
tion, and  enforcement  of  treaties,  and  in  all  other  cases, 
whatever  their  origin,  nature  or  occasion,  except  only  those 
which  in  the  judgment  of  any  of  the  nations  involved  in  the 
controversy  may  imperil  its  independence." 

Three  years  previously  the  Central  American  States 
made  a  treaty  by  which  five  Governments  solemnly 
promised,  in  case  of  disagreement  between  them, 
whatever  the  motives,  to  submit  the  same  to  arbitra- 
tion. 

The  first  international  treaty  providing  for  arbitra- 
252 


Getting  Germany  Aboard 

tion  in  all  cases  was  made  between  the  United  States 
and  Honduras. 

Up  to  the  year  1895  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  entered  into  forty-seven  agreements  for 
referring  matters  to  arbitration.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  the  Peace  Conference  at  the  Hague  that  the 
principles  of  pacific  arbitration  had  an  opportunity  of 
getting  into  practical  effect.  There  was  from  the  first 
a  kind  of  friendly  rivalry  between  Lord  Pauncefote 
and  the  American  Delegation  as  to  which  could  most 
effectually  promote  the  establishment  of  a  Permanent 
International  Tribunal.  Honors  were  divided. 

At  the  Hague  Lord  Pauncefote  led,  but  America 
scored  by  the  mission  of  Mr.  Holls  to  Berlin  which 
brought  Germany  into  line.  Mr.  Holls  went  to  Ber- 
lin for  the  purpose  of  extricating  Germany  from  a 
position  which  would  have  left  her  isolated.  In  inter- 
views with  the  Imperial  Chancellor  and  the  Foreign 
Minister,  he  was  able  to  convince  the  statesmen  of  Ger- 
many that  whatever  attitude  the  German  delegates 
chose  to  take  up,  the  principle  of  an  International 
Tribunal  of  Arbitration  would  be  adopted  by  the  Con- 
ference, and  that  Germany  had  only  the  alternative 
of  standing  in  with  all  the  great  civilized  Powers  or 
of  taking  up  a  position  with  no  backer  or  supporter 
save  the  Sultan. 

The  German  Government  was  convinced  by  his 
representations  that  the  train  was  going  to  start  any- 
how, and  not  caring  to  be  left  forlorn  on  the  plat- 
form, followed  the  example  of  the  others,  and  the 


253 


Getting  Germany  Aboard 

Convention   was  unanimously  approved  by   all  the 
Powers. 

A  record  so  honorable,  lasting  over  a  whole  cen- 
tury, and  culminating  in  the  greatest  International 
Parliament  which  met  in  the  capital  of  Holland,  is 
one  of  which  every  Arrierican  citizen  has  good  reason 
to  be  proud. 


254 


The  Americanization 
of  the  World 

j* 

Part  Three 

How  America  Americanizes 

Chapter  First 

Religion 

THE  impulse  which  drove  the  earlier  discoverers 
across  the  Atlantic  in  search  of  the  Golden  Indies  was 
not  entirely  mercenary.  In  the  Fifteenth  Century,  as  in 
the  Nineteenth,  there  is  visible  a  curious  blend  of 
avarice  and  religion.  In  our  times,  the  missionary 
has  usually  preceded  the  filibuster,  but  in  the  Spanish 
conquest  of  America  the  filibusters  took  the  initiative. 

And  no  sooner  had  the  Spanish  and  Genoese  adven- 
turers discovered  the  existence  of  a  new  world  beyond 
the  seas  than  the  Church  of  Rome  hastened  to  exploit 
the  discovery  by  the  despatch  of  missionaries  of  the 
Cross,  who  were  accommodated  with  free  passages  on 
board  the  barks  which  bore  the  freebooters  of  the  Old 
World  to  their  destined  prey. 

The  map  is  still  shown  in  Rome  in  which  the  Pope 

255 


Gospel  of  the  Sword 

solemnly  divided  up  the  New  World  between  Spain 
and  Portugal,  two  nations  which,  both  being  devotedly 
Catholic,  accepted  the  papal  delimitation  as  the  voice 
of  the  Oracle  of  God.  Destinies,  however,  were  less 
obedient,  and  to-day  when  the  visitor  at  the  museum 
of  the  College  de  Propaganda  Fide  surveys  the  map  he 
indulges  in  melancholy  reflections  upon  the  vanity  of 
human  expectations  as  he  remembers  that  not  over 
even  one  single  islet  of  that  New  World  now  floats 
the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  flag. 

If  the  Old  World  imposed  its  faith  at  the  sword's 
point  on  the  aboriginal  populations  of  Central  and 
Southern  America,  Northern  America  has  not  failed 
to  confer  similar  benefits  upon  the  Old  World,  al- 
though by  a  very  different  method  of  propaganda. 
Prescott  has  given  us  in  his  story  of  the  conquest  of 
Peru  a  curious  picture  of  the  methods  pursued  by  the 
pious  pirates  who  conquered  the  kingdom  of  the 
Incas. 

The  unfortunate  Peruvians  who  were  captured  by 
the  Spaniards  were  given  the  choice  of  conversion  to 
Christianity  or  death.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
multitudes  accepted  the  faith  thus  imposed  at  the  point 
of  the  sword;  but,  if  the  early  chronicle  may  be  be- 
lieved, their  conversion  was  attended  with  even  less 
than  the  usual  modicum  of  intelligent  conviction.  To 
expound  the  Christian  mysteries  on  the  stricken  field, 
while  the  soil  is  still  fresh  with  new-spilled  blood,  is 
apt  to  be  a  somewhat  summary  process,  but  it  has  sel- 
dom been  so  grotesque  a  burlesque  as  that  which  was 
enacted  in  Peru. 
256 


Gospel  of  the  Sword 

The  Spanish  conquerors  were  ignorant  of  the  lan- 
guage of  their  captives,  and,  had  perforce,  to  depend 
upon  the  services  of  stray  interpreters  whose  intellects 
were  unfamiliar  with  the  subtleties  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed.  Hence,  when  the  Peruvian  was  summoned 
to  profess  his  faith  in  the  Christian  religion  and  its 
fundamental  dogma  of  the  Trinity,  he  was  told  by  the 
interpreter  that  he  was  required  to  declare  that  there 
were  three  Gods  and  one  God,  and  that  made  four 
Gods ;  and  on  assenting  to  this  arithmetical  proposi- 
tion he  was  incontinently  baptized  and  admitted  as  a 
true  believer  within  the  pale  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Such  were  the  primitive  methods  of  Pizarro  and 
many  a  less  famous  Spaniard  who  preached  the  gospel 
with  the  sword  only  four  centuries  ago.  The  unfortu- 
nate millions  of  the  peaceful  aborigines  whom  the 
Spaniards  ground  to  death  by  enforced  labor  were 
graciously  vouchsafed  the  alternative  of  heaven  be- 
yond the  grave  in  compensation  for  the  very  real  hell 
on  this  earth  into  which  they  were  plunged  by  the 
Spanish  conquest. 

For  the  time  being,  no  doubt,  the  triumph  of  Spain 
and  of  Rome  seemed  complete.  To  this  day,  from 
Northern  Mexico  to  Tierra  del  Fuego,  the  Roman  faith 
reigns  supreme.  It  was  in  the  South  American  con- 
tinent that  the  Jesuits  found  an  opportunity  for  realiz- 
ing their  political  and  religious  ideals,  and  at  this 
moment  it  is  in  the  States  of  Colombia  where  the  dis- 
possessed friars  from  the  Philippines  are  finding  their 
warmest  welcome.  Southern  and  Central  America 
have  been,  since  their  conquest,  veritable  States  of  the 

257 


The  Church  a  Reproach 

Church.  But  churches,  like  individuals,  are  often 
cursed  with  the  burden  of  a  granted  prayer. 

The  religion  of  Rome  thus  forced  upon  the  south- 
ern half  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  has  been  singu- 
larly devoid  of  vitalizing  power.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  specify  a  single  religious  movement  originating  in 
Southern  America  or  to  name  a  single  eminent  man  or 
woman  that  the  Southern  or  Central  American  States 
have  produced  who  has  exerted  any  influence  upon  the 
religious  life  of  the  world.  To  this  day  the  state  of 
South  America  is  one  of  the  scandals  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  After  a  period  of  dominance,  during  which 
priest  and  Jesuit  reigned  with  unchallenged  sway,  the 
forces  of  revolt  asserted  themselves  with  violence ;  the 
Jesuits  were  expelled,  and  South  American  free- 
thinkers gave  ample  proof,  by  their  anti-clerical  legis- 
lation, that  Gambetta's  watchword — "Le  clcricaUsmi 
— voila  I'ennemi!" — could  be  as  inspiriting  a  rallying 
cry  in  the  New  World  as  in  the  Old. 

But  the  fierce  passions  engendered  by  the  conflict 
between  the  forces  of  orthodoxy  and  of  unbelief  failed 
to  purify  the  Church.  The  morality  of  many  of  the 
priests  in  South  America  left  so  much  to  be  desired 
that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  some  years  ago  al 
the  Vatican  of  the  necessity  for  such  an  exercise  of  the 
Pope's  authority  as  would  suspend  for  a  time  the  en- 
forced celibacy  of  the  clergy,  which  in  South  America 
had  produced,  not  chastity,  but  almost  universal  con- 
cubinage. Instead  of  being  a  glory,  the  South  Ameri- 
can Church  has  become  the  scandal  and  the  reproach 
of  Catholic  Christendom. 

258 


Religion  a  Colonizing  Factor 

Far  otherwise  was  it  with  the  northern  half  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere.  Here  the  religious  impulse  was 
the  most  potent  factor  in  the  colonization  of  the  coun- 
try. The  gold  mines  of  California  were  happily  un- 
known in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries. 
The  Johannesburg  of  the  New  World  lay  in  the  South, 
and  thither  hastened  all  the  adventurers  and  gold- 
seekers,  the  early  prototypes  of  the  Outlanders  of  the 
Rand. 

The  United  States  of  America  and  Canada  were  to 
the  conquistadores  as  unattractive  as  were  the  pastoral 
regions  of  the  high  veldt  in  the  Transvaal  to  Messrs. 
Werner,  Beit,  and  Eckstein.  They  left  these  North 
lands  to  those  who,  like  the  primitive  Boer,  trekked 
into  the  wilderness  in  search,  not  of  gold,  but  of 
liberty.  Hence,  while  South  America  was  colonized 
by  the  devotees  of  Mammon,  North  America  was 
opened  up  by  stern  idealists,  who  fled  from  the  city 
of  destruction  of  the  Old  World  to  the  virgin  wilder- 
ness in  which  they  hoped  to  rear  on  eternal  founda- 
tions the  city  of  their  God. 

It  is  true  that  the  earliest  colonists,  those  who  went 
out  with  Raleigh  to  Virginia,  were  not  of  as  lofty  a 
type.  They  were  more  like  our  colonists  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  who  were  tempted  by  prospects  of  carving  out 
estates  for  themselves  and  founding  a  family  in  the 
rich  tobacco-producing  regions  that  lay  south  of  the 
Potomac.  They  were  first  in  the  field ;  in  social  posi- 
tion they  were  probably  superior  to  the  men  of  the 
Mayflower;  but  after  three  centuries,  during  which 
mankind  has  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  com- 

259 


The  Early  Colonists 

parative  potency  of  the  different  elements  when  dis 
tilled  in  the  alembic  of  history,  we  see  many  thing 
which  were  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  our  forefather 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

When  Byron  visited  the  dungeon  of  Torquato  Tassc 
he  contrasted  in  glowing  verse  the  difference  betwee 
the  Duke,  who  in  his  palace  signed  the  decree  ihi 
flung  the  poet  into  jail,  and  the  captives  of  his  will. 


Thou!  formed  to  eat,  and  be  despised  and  die, 
Even  as  the  beasts  -perish,  save  that  thou 
Hadst  a  more  splendid  trough,   and  wider  sty. 
He !  with  a  glory  round  his  furrowed  brow, 
Which  emanated  then  and  dazzles  now. 


There  is  something  of  the  same  contrast  betwee 
the  affluent  and  luxurious  descendants  of  the  Cavaliei 
who  peopled  the  Southern  States  and  the  grim,  ster 
men  who  settled  on  "the  wild  New  England  shore. 
The  Southerners  had  the  wealth  and  the  ease,  tli 
fertile  field  and  the  radiant  sun  ;  but  the  shaping  of  th 
destinies  of  the  continent  lay,  not  in  their  hand: 
but  in  those  of  the  despised  fanatics  of  the  Nortl 
proscribed  fugitives  fleeing  in  slight  cockle-shell 
across  the  Atlantic  to  escape  the  persecuting  zeal  c 
prelate  and  of  King. 

The  impulse  which  drove  the  men  of  the  Mayflowe 
across  the  sea  was  primarily  religious ;  secondly,  politi 
cal.  It  was  to  a  very  slight  extent  economical  o 
financial.  At  the  time  the  movement  seemed  compar 
atively  insignificant.  To  the  Sovereigns  and  states 
men  of  the  Old  World  what  did  it  matter  that  a  colon 
260 


A  Fateful  Exodus 

or  two  of  pinched  fanatics  should  establish  themselves 
on  the  western  shore  of  the  Atlantic?  But  to-day 
every  one  realizes  that  it  was  an  exodus  as  fateful  in 
its  influence  upon  the  history  of  mankind  as  the  Ex- 
odus of  the  Chosen  People  through  the  Wilderness  to 
the  Promised  Land. 

The  last  century  also  witnessed  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar exodus,  which  may  yet  be  as  potent  in  the  making 
and  unmaking  of  empires.  The  trek  of  the  Dutch 
Boers  northward  across  the  Vaal  seemed  even  less 
significant  than  the  landing  of  the  Puritans  at  Plym- 
outh Rock ;  but  to-day  it  seems  not  impossible  that 
as  the  one  led  to  the  founding  of  the  greatest  Repub- 
lic on  earth,  so  the  other  may  lead  to  the  shattering 
of  militarism  throughout  the  world. 

But  it  would  be  grossly  unjust  to  regard  the  Puri- 
tans of  New  England  as  the  only  element  which  re- 
ligious enthusiasm  has  contributed  to  the  creation  of 
the  American  Commonwealth.  The  Roman  Catholics 
who  colonized  Maryland  were  also  to  a  large  extent 
exiles  for  conscience'  sake.  The  propagandist  efforts 
of  the  Roman  Church  in  North  America  differed  toto 
coelo  from  the  brutal  fashion  in  which  the  work  of 
proselytism  was  carried  on  in  the  South. 

The  Jesuits,  who  were  at  once  missionaries  and 
explorers  of  the  type  of  Livingstone,  were  the  pioneers 
of  European  colonization  both  in  Canada  and  along 
the  Mississippi.  On  the  Pacific  coast  it  was  the  fathers 
of  the  various  religious  orders  who  were  the  only 
pioneers  of  Christian  civilization  in  the  Far  West, 


261 


Americanized  Religion 

until  the  Argonauts  of  1849  broke  in  rudely  upon  their 
pastoral  simplicity.  As  it  was  in  the  beginning,  so  it 
has  remained  ever  since.  The  two  continents  of  the 
New  World  have  been  divided  between  the  principle 
of  Authority  and  the  principle  of  Liberty.  The  Ameri- 
can Commonwealth  from  its  very  birth  asserted  with 
unmistakable  emphasis,  as  inalienable  and  fundamental 
rights  of  mankind,  liberty  of  conscience  and  liberty  of 
religion. 

In  matters  of  religion  the  indirect  influence  of 
America  upon  the  world  has  probably  been  more  po- 
tent than  any  direct  effect  produced  by  American 
teachers  or  American  preachers,  although,  as  I  shall 
proceed  to  show,  the  influence  of  the  latter  has  been 
by  no  means  insignificant.  It  was  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  supplied  the  world  for  a  century 
and  more  with  a  great  object-lesson  as  to  the  possi- 
bility of  the  maintenance  of  religion  without  the  in- 
tervention of  State  churches  and  without  the  penal 
enactments  of  intolerant  legislatures. 

To  a  Europe,  hide-bound  with  the  old  tradition  that 
there  could  be  no  religion  unless  the  State  established 
and  endowed  some  form  of  religious  creed,  the  United 
States  presented  the  spectacle  of  a  great  Christian  com- 
munity, in  which  the  rites  of  religion  were  as  regu- 
larly performed  and  where  the  spirit  of  real  religion 
was  at  least  as  visibly  potent  in  the  fruitful  works  of 
righteousness  as  in  any  community  where  the  Church 
was  privileged  to  strut  abroad  bedizened  in  all  the 
gorgeous  livery  of  State.  That  potent  influence  is 
still  working  in  the  Old  World  to-day. 
262 


Americanized  Religion 

The  example  of  the  United  States  has  been  a  far 
more  potent  dissolvent  of  the  Old  World  ideas  as  to 
the  necessity  for  an  inseparable  union  between  Church 
and  State  than  all  the  activities  of  the  Liberationist 
Society.  Cavour's  formula  of  a  Free  Church  in  a  Free 
State  was  not  uttered  till  more  than  two  centuries 
after  the  same  ideal  had  been  formally  accepted  as  the 
basis  of  the  American  Commonwealth.  In  a  world 
in  which  men  can  still  find  themselves  in  high  office 
bravely  confronting  the  Twentieth  Century  with  the 
ecclesiastical  conceptions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  ex- 
ample of  America  streams  like  the  radiance  of  the  ris- 
ing sun  across  the  dark  and  misty  world. 

Apart  from  this  all-pervading,  subtle,  indirect  in- 
fluence of  the  American  ideas  as  to  Church  and  State, 
and  liberty  of  conscience,  not  even  the  most  cursory 
observer  can  overlook  the  direct  influence  which  Amer- 
ican religious  life  and  religious  thought  has  had  upon 
large  sections  of  the  English-speaking  people  in  Great 
Britain,  and  in  the  Greater  Britain  beyond  the  seas. 
It  is  natural  that  it  should  be  so,  because  at  least  one- 
half  of  the  English-speaking  people  is  ecclesiastically 
much  more  in  sympathy  with  the  Americans  than  with 
the  Anglicans. 

The  Anglican  Church  in  England  is  the  church  of 
an  influential,  cultured,  richly  endowed,  socially  ar- 
rogant sect.  It  is  a  thing  apart,  as  distinct  from  the 
life  of  the  race  as  the  House  of  Lords  or  the  monarchy. 
Neither  monarchy,  House  of  Lords,  nor  Established 
Church  reproduce  themselves  beyond  the  seas.  An 
Episcopal  Church,  no  doubt,  that  is  ecclesiastically 

263 


Religious  Influences 

affiliated  with  the  Anglican  Church,  exists  in  all  the 
Colonies  and  the  United  States,  but  it  is  nowhere 
established  and  endowed,  its  clergy  are  never  inocu- 
lated with  the  virus  of  social  ascendancy,  and  although 
in  some  the  evil  leave-n  of  sacerdotalism  works,  it  is  in 
a  very  attenuated  form. 

The  Nonconformists  of  this  country  are  spiritually 
and  ecclesiastically  in  much  more  vital  union  with  the 
American  Churches  than  they  are  with  the  Anglican 
establishment.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Inde- 
pendents and  Baptists,  the  Unitarians,  and,  to  a  less 
but  still  to  a  very  real  extent,  of  the  Presbyterians. 
As  for  the  Methodists,  who  had  no  share  in  the  glori- 
ous traditions  of  the  founding  of  New  England,  they 
have  increased  and  multiplied  so  much  in  the  United 
States  as  to  outnumber  the  Methodists  in  the  old 
country,  so  that  Methodism  may  be  regarded  as  the 
most  Americanized  of  all  the  religious  sects.  In  an 
(Ecumenical  Council  of  Methodism,  if  the  representa- 
tion were  adjusted  to  numbers,  the  American  Metho- 
dists would  outnumber  those  of  all  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  Nonconformist  and  the  Methodist,  who 
aje  conventionally  regarded  by  the  Established  clergy 
as  aliens  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Israel,  who  are  re- 
minded at  every  turn  that  they  are  pariahs  not  worthy 
to  sit  at  table  with  the  Brahmins  of  the  Establishment, 
find  themselves  at  home  in  the  wider  and  freer  area  of 
the  American  Commonwealth.  The  Congregation- 
alists.  Baptists,  Unitarians,  and  Presbyterians  are 
so  lid 'air  es  with  the  Puritans  and  their  descendants. 
The  Methodists  in  all  their  divisions  are  equally  soli- 
264 


Religious  Influences 

daires  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They 
interchange  pulpits,  they  use  the  same  books  of  devo- 
tion; above  all,  they  sing  the  same  hymns.  When- 
ever a  great  stone  is  flung  into  the  lake  of  American 
or  British  religious  life,  the  ripple  is  never  arrested 
by  the  Atlantic.  The  ever-changing  circles  extend 
without  a  break  from  continent  to  continent. 

To  the  man  in  the  street,  who  may  be  presumed  to 
belong  to  no  religious  organization,  these  ties,  eccle- 
siastical or  denominational,  as  you  may  please  to  call 
them,  may  seem  of  small  importance.  But  to  most 
Methodists,  and  to  very  many  Nonconformists,  their 
denomination  appeals  much  more  frequently  and  more 
deeply  than  the  national  organization  of  the  country 
to  which  they  belong.  Politics  which  appeal  to  the 
patriotic  sentiment  of  an  Englishman,  make  only  an 
occasional  demand  upon  his  active  service.  If  he  votes 
at  a  local  election  once  a  year,  and  at  a  general  elec- 
tion once  in  five,  and  if  he  pays  his  rates  and  taxes, 
that  often  represents  the  maximum  of  the  service 
which  is  claimed  by  the  State  from  the  citizen. 

His  chapel  is  much  more  exacting.  It  is  always  with 
him.  Twice  on  Sunday,  at  least,  it  summons  him  to  the 
worship  of  God  in  some  stated  public  service.  But 
this  is  merely  a  fragment  of  the  demands  which  it 
makes  upon  him.  He  must  attend  prayer-meeting, 
class-meeting,  teach  in  the  Sunday-school,  distribute 
tracts,  take  part  in  cottage-meetings,  do  his  share  of 
local  preaching,  and,  in  short,  give  up  no  small  portion 
of  his  leisure  to  the  discharge  of  his  religious  duties. 
While  his  church  or  chapel  is  always  with  him,  de- 

265 


Religious  Influences 

manding  voluntary  exertion  and  taking  continuous 
collections,  the  service  demanded  by  the  State  is  inter- 
mittent and  comparatively  insignificant.  Hence  soli- 
darity based  upon  the  identity  of  religious  belief  is  often 
a  far  more  real  and  .yital  thing  than  the  solidarity  that 
springs  from  the  inhabiting  of  the  same  country. 

It  is  otherwise,  of  course,  in  time  of  war.  When  the 
country  is  invaded,  the  sentiment  of  patriotism  is  su- 
preme. But  the  English-speaking  race  at  the  present 
time  does  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  invaded.  The  im- 
mense majority  of  men  who  speak  the  English  tongue 
have  never  heard  a  shot  fired  in  anger.  Hence  the  idea 
of  the  country  as  a  living  entity,  demanding  imperi- 
ously the  sacrifice  of  life  and  fortune  in  its  service, 
has  never  dawned  upon  many  minds.  But  to  the  re- 
ligious man  and  religious  woman  the  warfare  with  the 
forces  of  evil  never  ceases.  The  Church  is  the  army 
of  the  living  God,  always  mobilized  for  action.  Nat- 
urally the  thought  of  her  members  turns  far  more 
upon  the  chapel  or  the  church  than  upon  the  State. 

To  those  who  have  been  brought  up  in  the  sectarian 
seclusion  of  the  Anglican  cult,  it  is  difficult  to  realize 
the  extent  to  which  American  books,  American  preach- 
ers, American  hymnody,  mould  the  lives  of  the  Free 
Churchmen  of  this  country.  If  I  may  be  pardoned 
an  autobiographical  reminiscence,  I  may  say  that  there 
rises  vividly  before  my  mind's  eye  the  bookshelves  of 
my  father's  study  in  the  days  when  I  was  a  small  boy 
in  a  Congregational  Manse  on  Tyne-side.  In  the  post 
of  honor,  formidable  and  forbidding  to  me,  at  least, 
stood  the  stately  volumes  which  contained  the  writ- 
2:6 


Religious  Influences 

ings  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  stern  teacher  of  New 
England,  who  represented  Calvinism  in  all  its  grim 
austerity. 

On  another  shelf  stood  the  works  of  Channing,  the 
Unitarian,  whose  loving  spirit  hardly  condoned  for 
the  offence  of  his  Unitarian  heresy.  There  was  Barnes' 
well-thumbed  commentary  upon  the  New  Testament, 
side  by  side  with  Baxter  and  Matthew  Henry,  and  other 
Puritan  divines.  Of  Jeremy  Taylor  and  Barrow  and 
South,  and  the  classic  writers  and  preachers  of  An- 
glicanism, there  was  no  trace.  Chalmers  and  Guth- 
rie  represented  the  Presbyterianism  of  Scotland,  but 
among  modern  preachers  the  works  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  were  the  most  conspicuous,  although  Spur- 
geon  came  after  him,  cum  longo  intervallo.  It  may  be 
admitted  that  it  was  but  a  meagre  theological  outfit, 
although  there  may  be  some  doubts  whether  many  of 
my  more  cultured  readers,  who  sneer  superciliously  at 
the  narrow  range  of  the  Independent  minister's  book- 
shelves, have  read  as  many  theological  works  as  the 
few  which  I  have  just  named. 

My  point,  however,  is  not  the  dimensions  of  my 
father's  library,  but  to  show  how  teachers  and  preach- 
ers of  New  England  of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth 
stood  side  by  side,  and  were  held  in  equal  honor  as 
supplying  the  spiritual  pabulum  for  a  Nonconformist 
household.  I  have  some  reason  to  think  that  my  ex- 
perience was  not  exceptional,  and  to  this  day  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that,  if  the  rank  and  file  of  Free 
Churchmen  read  theology  or  sermons  at  all,  it  will 
be  found  that  their  reading  is  chiefly  confined  to  the 

267 


Religious  Movements 

authors  who  represent  the  Puritan  Commonwealth,  the 
Wesleyan  Revival,  and  the  religious  life  of  the  Amer- 
icans. Hence,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  religious 
public  in  the  three  Kingdoms  have  been  singularly  sus- 
ceptible to  the  religious  influences  coming  from  be- 
yond the  Atlantic. 

Looking  over  the  religious  movements  of  the  last  cen- 
tury in  the  English-speaking  world  there  are  five  dis- 
tinctly discernible.  Of  these  five  only  one  is  of  Eng- 
lish origin.  The  Tractarian  movement  of  the  Middle 
Century  was  distinctively  Anglican,  but  beyond  a  cer- 
tain stimulus  given  to  the  sensuous  exercise  of  divine 
worship  its  influence  was  strictly  confined  within  the 
limits  of  its  own  sect.  The  other  four  movements 
have  been  much  wider  in  their  sweep.  The  first  and 
most  persistent  has  been  Revivalism.  This  was  dis- 
tinctly American  in  its  origin. 

No  doubt,  there  have  been  revivals  or,  as  Catholics 
would  say,  missions,  in  all  ages  of  the  Church ;  but  the 
systematized  revival,  the  deliberate  organization  of  re- 
ligious services  for  the  express  purpose  of  rousing 
the  latent  moral  enthusiasm  of  mankind,  is  a  distinctly 
American  product  of  last  century.  Wesley  and  Whit- 
field  may  have  sown  its  seed,  but  it  grew  up  across  the 
Atlantic.  Revivalism  flourished  in  the  United  States 
long  before  it  was  acclimatized  on  this  sfde  of  the 
water.  In  Professor  Finney,  of  Oberlin  College,  Re- 
vivalism found  its  expositor  and  its  mouthpiece,  and, 
as  a  direct  result  of  his  teaching,  we  have  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  which  is  simply  Revivalism  organized 


Revivalism 

on  a  permanent  basis,  and  put  under  quasi  military 
discipline. 

It  is  easy  to  sneer  at  Revivalism,  but  it  has  been  the 
means  by  which  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  and 
women  have  found  their  way  to  a  higher  and  purer 
life.  The  Revivalist  may  seem  often  rude,  uncul- 
tured, even  vulgar,  but  in  his  untutored  eloquence  mil- 
lions of  men  have  heard  for  the  first  time  the  echoes 
of  the  Divine  voice  that  spoke  on  Sinai,  while  the  peni- 
tent form  and  the  enquiry-room  have  been  to  many  a 
sin-stricken  soul  the  ante-chamber  of  heaven.  In  this 
practical  work-a-day  world  men  affect  great  admira- 
tion for  those  who  do  things,  as  opposed  Lo  the  men 
who  talk  about  them.  But  Revivalism  has  done  things 
which  the  more  cultured  and  refined  would  not  even 
have  ventured  to  attempt. 

Nor  is  it  only  one  form  of  Revivalism  which  has 
come  to  us  from  the  United  States;  there  has  been 
a  long  list  of  Revivalists  whose  services  were  greatly 
welcomed  both  in  England  and  in  the  States.  Of  these 
the  best  known  were  Moody  and  Sankey.  Moody  in 
speech,  and  Sankey  in  song,  exercised  a  wider  influ- 
ence than  any  other  two  men  upon  the  British  people 
in  the  latter  half  of  last  century.  Sankey's  hymns  still 
hold  the  first  place  in  thousands  of  places  of  worship 
throughout  the  British  Empire.  They  are  sung  much 
more  constantly,  and  by  a  much  greater  number  of 
people,  than  any  other  songs,  with  the  one  exception 
of  the  National  Anthem. 

The  second  great  contribution  which  America  has 
made  to  the  religious  life  of  the  world  is  one,  the  full 

269 


Spiritualism 

significance  of  which  is  appreciated  by  few.  Th< 
strange,  mysterious  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  firs 
began  to  be  noticed  at  what  are  known  as  the  Hydes 
ville  rappings  in  about  the  middle  of  the  century.  Bu 
it  was  not  until  D.  D.  Home  began  to  develop  his  me- 
diumship  about  the  time  when  England  was  welter 
ing  in  the  bloody  morass  of  the  Crimean  War,  tha 
the  outside  world  recognized  the  dawning  of  a  nev 
force  in  the  world. 

D.  D.  Home,  like  Mr.  Carnegie,  was  born  in  Scot 
land,  but  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  when  nine  years  o 
age,  and  did  not  return  to  his  native  land  until  he  ha( 
been  thoroughly  Americanized. 

Of  his  mediumship  and  his  extraordinary  mission 
ary  tour  throughout  the  Courts  and  capitals  of  Europe 
it  is  not  necessary  to  do  more  than  make  mention.  Th< 
majority  abused  him  as  a  charlatan.  Robert  Brown 
ing  ridiculed  him  as  "Sludge  the  Medium ;"  but  hi: 
wife,  much  more  spiritually  gifted  than  he,  recognizec 
the  reality  of  the  phenomena  which  held  out  to  man 
kind  the  promise  of  the  possibility  of  communicatiot 
with  those  who  had  passed  beyond  the  veil. 

This  is  not  the  occasion  for  discussing  the  value  o: 
the  contribution  which  Spiritualism  has  made,  or  rathei 
the  promise  which  it  holds  out  of  making,  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  great  problem — if  a  man  die,  shall  he  liv( 
again?  but  it  is  sufficient  to  mention  two  facts.  Om 
was  the  saying  of  Lord  Brougham,  "that  even  in  the 
most  cloudless  skies  of  scepticism,  I  see  a  rain-cloud,  ii 
it  be  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand.  It  is  modern  Spirit- 
ualism." The  other  is  the  fact  that  many  of  the  mosl 
270 


Spiritualism 

eminent  of  modern  scientists,  men  of  the  standing  of 
Sir  William  Crookes,  Professor  Alfred  Russel  Wal- 
lace, and  Camille  Flammarion,  have  publicly  asserted 
their  belief  in  the  reality  of  the  phenomena  commonly 
called  spiritistic;  and  that  the  late  Mr.  Mayers,  after 
devoting  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  a  painstaking  scien- 
tific investigation  of  psychical  phenomena,  arrived 
before  his  death  at  the  firm  conviction  that  the  per- 
sistence of  the  personality,  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
body,  was  capable  of  scientific  demonstration. 

For  my  own  part,  I  can  only  say  that  I  entertain 
no  firmer  conviction  than  that  this  doctrine  is  as  the 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  which  has  become 
the  headstone  of  the  corner.  When  the  persistence  of 
the  soul  after  the  dissolution  of  the  body  has  been 
found  to  be  as  capable  of  scientific  verification  as  any 
other  fact  in  nature,  it  will  constitute  a  political,  social, 
and  moral  revolution  of  unspeakable  magnitude. 

The  next  movement  of  religious  origin  which  has 
influenced  the  world  was  the  combination  of  tem- 
perance enthusiasm  with  the  recognition  of  the  right 
of  women  to  full  citizenship.  It  would  be  too  much  to 
claim  that  the  temperance  movement  had  its  origin  in 
the  United  States,  but  it  undoubtedly  has  drawn  no 
small  portion  of  its  strength  from  New  England.  The 
State  of  Maine  has  long  occupied  a  prominent  posi- 
tion as  a  Prohibition  State,  and  the  Maine  Liquor  Law 
has  for  fifty  years  been  the  object  of  the  despairing 
admiration  of  prohibitionists  in  Great  Britain  and  in 
the  Colonies.  The  movement  for  the  emancipation  of 
women  did  not  originate  in  the  United  States.  Mary 

271 


Woman's  Suffrage 

Wollstonecraft  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  the  prophet 
ess  of  her  sex.  But  it  was  not  until  the  American: 
took  up  the  question  seriously  that  the  question  of  th< 
enfranchisement  of  women  came  within  the  pale  o 
practical  politics,  ^  o  this  day  it  is  only  in  some  of  th< 
States  of  the  American  Union,  and  quite  recently  ii 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  that  the  right  of  womei 
to  full  citizenship  has  been  fully  recognized. 

The  two  movements  may  be  said  to  have  been  com 
bined  in  the  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union/ 
which  had  its  centre  in  Chicago,  with  Miss  Willarc 
as  its  inspiring  spirit.  The  Women's  Christiai 
Temperance  Union  is  one  of  the  world-wide  organi 
zations  which  took  their  rise  in  America,  and  hav< 
since  established  branches  in  every  part  of  the  Eng 
lish-speaking  world.  Its  direct  influence  in  compel 
ling  women  at  once  to  realize  their  responsibility  and  t( 
recognize  their  capacity  to  serve  the  State  in  the  pro 
motion  of  all  that  tends  to  preserve  the  purity  am 
sanctity  of  the  home,  has  been  by  no  means  one  of  th< 
least  contributions  which  America  has  made  to  th< 
betterment  of  the  world. 

The  fourth  movement,  which  beginning  in  America 
has  Americanized  every  English-speaking  land,  is  th( 
Christian  Endeavor  movement.  The  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  is  the  latest  born  but  one  of  the  mosi 
thriving  illustrations  of  the  enthusiasm  of  humanit) 
organized  under  Christian  auspices.  It  was  firs! 

*The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  has  now  hali 
a  million  members,  300,000  of  whom  are  in  the  United  States 
100,000  in  Great  Britain.  There  are  fifty-eight  countries 
and  colonies  represented  in  the  Union. 

272 


The  Christian  Endeavor 

founded  in  the  State  of  Maine  by  the  Rev.  Francis  E. 
Clark.  It  has  since  encircled  the  world  with  a  chain 
of  associated  societies,  all  of  which  are  organized  on 
the  same  general  principles  for  the  attainment  of  the 
same  beneficent  end.* 

The  Christian  Endeavor  movement  appeals  prima- 
rily to  the  young,  which  is  in  itself  a  distinctively  Amer- 
ican characteristic;  it  asserts  the  absolute  equality  of 
the  sexes,  the  binding  obligation  of  the  moral  law  upon 
man  and  woman  alike ;  it  inculcates  temperance,  and — 
therein  differing  from  many  distinctively  Evangelical 
movements — it  asserts  in  the  strongest  terms  the  duty 
of  its  members  to  try  to  purify  public  life,  and  to  use 
the  power  of  the  State  to  help  on  good  work. 

These  are  living  and  growing  organizations,  for  the 
like  of  which  we  look  in  vain  in  any  similar  societies 
founded  in  the  same  period  in  the  United  Kingdom. 
In  all  these  four  there  is  no  pretension  that  Americans 
are  being  Anglicized. 

Apart,  however,  from  these  distinct  movements, 
which  are  not  dependent  for  their  existence  on  any 
English  organizations,  there  is  another  very  potent 
spiritual  influence  profoundly  affecting  the  religious 
life  of  millions,  which  has  been  exercised  by  certain 
notable  Americans,  whom  it  is  sufficient  to  mention. 
Among  those  who  have  contributed  to  broaden  the 
religious  outlook  of  the  English-speaking  world,  are 

*  The  Women's  figures  are  quoted  from  the  latest  returns 
published  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  Union.  Number  of 
Christian  Endeavor  Societies  in  1901,  61,605.  with  a  total  mem- 
bership of  3,695,280.  Of  these  societies  43,848  are  "  Young 
People's,"  and  16,195  "Juniors." 

273 


Father  Hecker 

Charming,  Emerson,  and  Theodore  Parker  and  James 
Russell  Lowell,  who  embodied  in  verse  the  trans- 
cendental philosophy  which  Emerson  crystallized  in  his 
essays.  Next  to  them,  although  nearer  to  the  pale 
of  the  orthodox  church,  was  the  brilliant  orator  and 
catholic-minded  philanthropist,  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
Still  further  removed  from  orthodoxy,  but  still  dis- 
tinct forces  in  the  religious  life  of  our  race,  were 
thinkers  like  James  Fiske,  Dr.  Draper  and  Mr.  A.  D. 
White. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  close  this  imperfect  and 
cursory  survey  of  the  religious  influence  which  Amer- 
ica and  the  Americans  have  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
religious  life  of  the  world,  without  at  least  a  parting 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Father  Hecker.  The  United 
States  of  America,  being  predominantly  Protestant, 
has  influenced  most  directly  those  parts  of  the  world 
which  have  broken  loose  from  the  papal  dominion. 
It  is  the  glory  of  Father  Hecker  that  he  succeeded, 
to  a  large  extent,  in  infusing  a  spirit  of  healthy 
Americanism  into  the  life  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
The  forces  of  reaction,  it  is  true,  have  triumphed  for 
a  time,  and  the  doctrines  of  Americanism  lie  under 
the  ban  of  the  Vatican,  but  the  work  which  Father 
Hecker  did,  and  the  principles  which  he  taught,  still 
continue  to  bear  fruit. 

The  Roman  Catholics  of  America,  like  loyal  sons 
of  the  Church,  have  bowed  submissively  to  their 
teacher's  decree.  But  the  present  century  will  not 
be  much  older  before  Rome  will  again  find  its  base 
washed  by  the  rising  tide  of  the  American  spirit.  It 
274 


Father  Hecker 

is  probable  that  the  Pope,  whoever  he  may  be,  will 
again  pronounce  his  condemnation.  But  when  the 
tide  rises  for  a  third  time,  the  supreme  Pontiff  will 
recognize  that  the  principles  of  Americanism  are  part 
and  parcel  of  the  sacred  deposit  of  truth  which  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  Church  sedulously  to  preserve  and 
to  disseminate  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


275 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Second 

Literature  and  Journalism 

TILL  comparatively  recent  years  it  was  the  fashion 
to  deny  that  America  had  produced  any  literature. 
Not  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  supercilious  British 
culture  disdained  even  to  know  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  person  as  Mark  Twain,  and  this  hauteur  on 
our  side  was  encouraged  by  a  humility  on  the  other 
side  which  does  not  entirely  accord  with  our  con- 
ception of  the  American  character.  In  his  "Fable 
for  Critics,"  James  Russell  Lowell  makes  one  author 
say  :— 

"His   American   puffs   he   will    willingly   burn   all, 
To  gain  but  a  kick  from  a  transmarine  journal." 

Down  to  the  middle  of  the  century  and  later,  Amer- 
ican literature  was  largely  a  reflex  of  English  litera- 
ture. The  influence  of  the  new  environment  had  not 
materially  affected  the  character  of  the  transplanted 
stock. 

But  all  that  has  now  disappeared.  American  litera- 
ture, like  the  American  Constitution,  is  a  thing  which, 
while  it  bears  ample  evidence  of  the  parent  from  which 
276 


Influence  of  American  Writers 

it  sprang,  is  nevertheless  distinct,  original,  and  inde- 
pendent. The  old,  almost  pathetic  humility,  with 
which  American  writers  listened  to  the  criticisms  of 
Europe,  has  disappeared. 

The  American  is  rapidly  becoming  as  self-assertive 
in  literature  as  he  has  long  been  in  other  departments 
of  human  activity,  and  in  proportion  as  he  becomes 
self-conscious  and  self-reliant  we  may  expect  to  find 
him  exercising  increasing  influence  on  the  literature 
of  the  world. 

This  is  no  place  for  a  critical  estimate  of  American 
literature  as  such.  I  am  merely  concerned  in  noting 
the  influence  which  American  writers  have  had  upon 
the  world  outside  America,  and  especially  the  Mother 
Country.  Even  in  the  first  half  of  the  century  Amer- 
icans were  still  largely  under  the  influence  of  English 
tradition ;  they  produced  many  writers  whose  works 
constituted  no  small  addition  to  the  common  stock  of 
the  literature  of  the  English-speaking  race. 

Books  which  are  never  read  outside  the  American 
Union  may  indirectly  have  affected  human  thought  by 
the  extent  to  which  they  inspired  foreign  writers ;  but 
the  direct  influence  of  American  books  on  the  non- 
American  world  can  best  be  gauged  by  the  American 
books  which  the  non-Americans  read.  This  reduces 
the  examination  of  the  influence  of  American  litera- 
ture to  an  inquiry  in  the  first  instance,  at  least,  as  to 
what  American  authors  were  read  in  Europe. 

The  Americans  being  pre-eminently  politicians, 
much  of  their  genius  for  political  expression  found 
vent  in  political  oratory;  but  the  oratory  of  politicians 

277 


Benjamin  Franklin 

needs  no  Chinese  wall  or  prohibition  tariff  to  confine 
its  consumption  within  the  country  of  origin.  The 
fathers  of  the  American  Constitution,  the  statesmen 
and  political  thinkers  and  judges  who  moulded  its 
early  development,  are  practically  unknown  to  the 
ordinary  European. 

Educated  Englishmen,  and  some  politicians  inter- 
ested in  the  working  of  the  federal  principle,  have  read 
the  books  which  form  the  political  Scriptures  of  the 
American  politicians ;  but,  speaking  broadly,  we  get 
their  influence  second-hand  through  Tocqueville  and 
Mr.  Bryce. 

The  influence  of  religion  was  hardly  second  to  that 
of  politics  in  the  New  England  States,  and  the  pulpit 
for  many  years  divided  with  the  forum  the  articulate 
genius  of  America.  But  I  have  already  touched  upon 
the  influence  of  America  on  the  religious  life  of  the 
world,  and  in  this  chapter  I  will  deal  more  distinctly 
with  their  contributions  to  literature  in  the  shape  of 
printed  books. 

The  first  American  whose  writings  were  widely  cir- 
culated in  this  country,  and  who  exercised  a  percepti- 
ble although  slight  influence  upon  English  thought, 
was  Benjamin  Franklin.  He  has  gone  out  of  vogue 
in  the  last  thirty  years,  but  in  the  first  half  of  the  cen- 
tury the  proverbial  wisdom  of  "Poor  Richard's  Al- 
manac" was  familiar  in  many  English  households. 
Franklin  was  a  much  greater .  name  to  our  grand- 
fathers than  he  is  to-day ;  it  is  possible  that  after  a 
period  of  comparative  obscurity  his  reputation  may 
revive  throughout  the  English-speaking  world. 
278 


The  New  England  School 

De  Tocqueville  did  more  to  make  American  political 
thought  a  potent  influence  in  Europe  than  any  native 
writers.  The  first  Americans  to  be  extensively  read 
in  this  country  were  the  group  of  New  Englanders 
who  made  Boston  the  literary  centre  of  the  New 
World.  Foremost  among  these  was  Emerson,  whose 
essays  are  probably  read  to-day  in  England  more  than 
those  of  any  English  writer. 

His  "English  Traits"  figures  in  the  list  of  almost 
every  popular  series  of  reprints,  and  his  stiletto-like 
sentences  continue  to  administer  subcutaneous  injec- 
tions of  transcendental  philosophy  to  the  somewhat 
adipose  tissue  of  John  Bull.  Emerson  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  literary  and  philosophical  flower  which 
blossomed  on  the  somewhat  thorny  stem  of  seven  gen- 
erations of  Puritan  preachers  from  whom  he  was 
descended.  The  roots  of  him  were  buried  deep  in  the 
granite  of  Calvinistic  Puritanism,  but  the  growth  of 
two  centuries  culminated  in  the  evolution  of  the 
mystical  piety  and  poetical  philosophy  of  the  Sage  of 
Concord. 

The  ethical  fruit  of  centuries  of  Puritan  preach- 
ings, and  the  stern  discipline  of  the  New  England 
Christianity,  are  minted  into  a  kind  of  universal  cur- 
rency in  the  winged  words  and  pregnant  apothegms 
of  Emerson.  On  our  library  shelves  he  stands  among 
the  first  five  essayists  who  are  read  everywhere  to-day 
— Montaigne,  Bacon,  Addison,  Lamb,  Emerson.  Of 
these  five,  Emerson,  so  far  as  the  general  reader  is 
concerned,  is  probably  first  or  second. 

After  Emerson,  Longfellow  was  the  American 

279 


American  Poets 

author  most  appreciated  by  the  English-speaking 
world.  It  is  probable  that  to  this  day  by  the  million 
he  is  the  best  known  poet  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
if  we  exclude  the  poets  who  were  born  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  centu'fy,  and  who  blossomed  into  song 
in  the  first  decade.  If  we  were  to  attempt  to  estimate 
quantitatively  the  infusion  of  poetry  which  has  been 
administered  by  the  poets  of  England  and  America  to 
the  English-speaking  man,  it  would  probably  be  found 
•hat  he  had  absorbed  a  larger  dose  of  Longfellow  than 
i  any  poet  of  the  old  country. 

Taking  the  English-speaking  world,  even  outside 
the  United  States  of  America,  it  is  probable  that  there 
are  ten  persons  who  are  more  or  less  acquainted  with 
Longfellow  for  one  who  has  read  Tennyson,  and  a 
hundred  have  read  Longfellow  for  one  who  has  read 
Swinburne. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  say  that  Longfellow  was  not 
American.  His  culture  was  distinctly  European, 
and  the  tendency  of  his  verse  bears  no  relation  to  the 
American  spirit  as  we  understand  it  to-day.  There 
is  in  it  none  of  the  hustle  and  the  bustle  and  the  in- 
tense strain  of  nervous  irritability  which  distinguish 
the  modern  American  type;  but  in  estimating  the  in- 
fluence of  America  upon  the  world  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  mild  singer  of  the  "Psalm  of  Life," 
"The  Village  Blacksmith,"  "Excelsior,"  and  a  score  of 
similar  poems  which  have  passed  into  the  common 
stock  of  the  poetic  thought  of  the  common  people,  was 
by  birth  an  American. 

The  only  other  American  poet,  until  we  come  to 
280 


English  Appreciation 

Whitman — who  revolted  against  the  European  tradi- 
tion— whose  influence  can  be  named  beside  that  of 
Longfellow,  was  James  Russell  Lowell.  Lowell,  in- 
deed, may  be  said  to  have  succeeded  Longfellow,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  to  have  superseded  him  in  direct 
influence  upon  the  English  masses. 

Although  three-fourths  of  his  "Biglow  Papers" 
are  seldom  read,  the  remaining  quarter  has  passed 
into  the  common  stock  of  our  thought.  For  years 
Lowell  was  only  known  by  his  "Biglow  Papers,"  and 
it  was  not  until  the  later  sixties  that  his  merit  as  a 
serious  poet  began  slowly  to  gain  recognition.  It  was 
not  until  the. nineties  that  the  English  public  woke  up 
to  realize  the  ethical  value  and  political  inspiration 
of  his  serious  verse.  When  popular  feeling  is 
deeply  stirred,  and  in  times  of  strain  and  of  crisis  it 
is  rare  indeed  to  attend  an  English  political  meeting, 
or  even  hear  a  pulpit  utterance  in  the  more  advanced 
churches,  in  which  you  do  not  hear  one  or  more  quo- 
tations from  James  Russell  Lowell. 

He  has  been,  and  is,  a  subtle  power,  making  always 
for  liberty,  for  charity,  for  righteousness.  Of  all 
the  influences  by  which  America  has  affected,  and  is 
affecting,  the  English-speaking  race,  that  of  Lowell 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable.  Whittier,  John  Bright's 
favorite  poet,  has  gained  in  popularity  of  late  years. 
But  he  does  not  attain  to  the  vogue  of  Longfellow 
and  Lowell. 

In  the  world  of  fiction  America  has  produced  two 
writers,  each  of  whom  has  written  one  book  that  pro- 
foundly influenced  the  non-American  world.  One 

281 


American  Fiction 

was  a  man,  the  other  a  woman.  The  man  was  Na- 
thaniel Hawthorne,  and  his  one  book  was  "The  Scar- 
let Letter."  The  Woman  was  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher 
Sto'we,  and  her  one  book  was  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Both  Hawthorne  and  Mrs.  Stowe  wrote  many  other 
novels,  which  were  read  with  admiration  when  they 
appeared,  and  may  be  still  read  with  advantage;  but 
although  much  of  Hawthorne's  work  is  still  widely 
read,  none  of  his  works,  nor  all  of  them  put  together, 
have  produced  so  deep  an  impression  as  his  "Scarlet 
Letter." 

As  the  years  pass,  its  influence  has  increased  rather 
than  diminished,  and  it  remains  at  this  day  one  of  the 
first,  if  not  the  first,  novel  of  its  kind  in  the  English 
language  for  its  brevity,  its  pathos,  and  its  force. 
Against  a  vast  background  of  dimly  remembered 
novels  of  passion  and  of  penitence,  it  stands  out  as 
distinct  as  did  the  Scarlet  Letter  upon  the  bosom  of 
Hester  Prynne. 

Mrs.  Stowe's  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  was  famous 
as  the  first  American  work  which  had  literally  a  world- 
wide audience.  Mrs.  Stowe  was  fortunate  in  her  sub- 
ject, fortunate  in  the  moment  when  she  published  her 
book,  and  specially  fortunate  in  the  spirit  with  which 
she  handled  her  story.  When  you  read  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin"  to-day  the  artlessness  about  its  art  makes  you 
sometimes  marvel  that  a  book  so  slight  should  have 
produced  so  immense  an  effect. 

But  the  book  came  as  a  revelation,  not  merely  of 
the  realities  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  but  of 
the  existence  of  a  high  and  noble  humanity  under  the 
282 


A  Book  That  Stirred  the  World 

skin  of  the  colored  man.  Englishmen  for  a  couple  of 
generations  had  been  taught  to  sympathize  with  the 
negro.  The  propaganda  of  our  early  abolitionists 
forms  one  of  the  finest  chapters  in  the  history  of 
the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century;  but  our 
grandfathers  cared  for  the  negro  very  much  as 
the  anti-vivisectionists  care  for  the  dogs  and  rabbits 
who  are  subjected  to  the  torture  of  the  physiological 
laboratory. 

If  we  could  imagine  some  sympathetic  genius  who 
could  suddenly  make  the  tortured  rabbit  of  the  vivi- 
sector  speak  like  a  human  being,  and  we  could  see  its 
heart  palpitate  with  all  the  noble  emotions  of  the  par- 
ent and  the  saint,  the  effect  would  be  somewhat  anal- 
ogous to  that  which  was  produced  by  the  sudden  ap- 
parition of  Uncle  Tom.  The  white  world  had  never 
before  realized  the  essential  humanity  of  the  negro. 
It  was  admitted  as  an  abstract  proposition  that  he  was 
a  human  being,  but  that  he  was  actually  a  fellow- 
creature  with  the  same  passions  as  ours,  that  he  lived 
and  loved  and  sorrowed  and  died  even  as  we,  and 
that  in  his  heart  throbbed  the  same  tumultuous  eddies 
of  emotion  as  those  which  we  experience  was  a  truth 
which  it  was  reserved  to  Mrs.  Stowe  to  discover  and 
to  make  the  universal  possession  of  mankind. 

Her  book  sped  like  wildfire  throughout  the  whole 
reading  world.  The  printing-presses  toiled  in  vain 
to  keep  up  with  the  demand  for  copies  of  "Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin,"  while  translators  in  every  country  in 
Europe  exhausted  their  ingenuity  to  invent  foreign 
equivalents  for  the  quaint  lingo  of  the  Southern  planta- 

283 


A  Book  That  Stirred  the  World 

tions.  Negro  slavery  in  Southern  States  was  swept 
away  by  the  tremendous  besom  of  the  Civil  War,  but 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  continues  to  be  read  through- 
out the  world,  and  dramatized  versions  still  continue 
to  attract  audiences  in  English  theatres. 

To  this  day,  if  you  take  a  million  white-skinned 
men,  women,  and  children,  you  will  find  a  larger  per- 
centage who  are  familiar  with  Uncle  Tom,  Legree, 
Topsy  and  Eva,  than  are  acquainted  with  the  names 
of  any  American  presidents,  with  the  exception 
of  Washington  and  Lincoln,  or  any  American 
men  of  letters  without  any  exception  whatever.  To 
the  mass  of  Europeans  of  the  latter  half  of  last  cen- 
tury, Mrs.  Stowe  was  the  only  interpreter  of  Amer- 
ican life  whom  they  knew  and  in  whom  they  believed. 
By  her  £>ook,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its  merits  or 
demerits,  she  undoubtedly  contributed  not  a  little  to 
swell  the  tide  of  sympathy  and  compassion,  even  with 
the  most  forlorn  and  degraded  of  the  human  race,  a 
tide  which  alas,  to-day,  seems  somewhat  on  the  ebb. 

Even  in  the  most  rapid  survey  of  Americans  who 
have  exercised  literary  influence  outside  America,  due 
honor  must  be  paid  to  the  weird,  fantastic,  and  some- 
what morbid  genius  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe.  His  influ- 
ence may  be  traced  in  many  directions,  and  the  note 
which  he  sounded — original,  distinct,  and  lonesome, 
has  waked  many  echoes. 

An  American  author  who  had  great  vogue  in  the 

middle  of  the  century,  but  whose  novels  are  hardly 

looked  at  to-day,  was  J.  Fenimore  Cooper,  whose  "Last 

of  the  Mohicans,"  and  other  Indian  stories,  were  the  cle- 

284 


Men  of  Potent  Originality 

light  of  our  boyhood.  His  turn  may  come  again,  but 
for  the  moment  he  is  no  longer  in  demand. 

Washington  Irving,  an  earlier  writer  of  more  varied 
range,  has  always  commanded  a  public.  He  did  much 
to  familiarize  Americans  with  English  life,  and  his 
"Rip  van  Winkle"  has  added  an  imperishable  figure 
to  the  Elysian  fields  in  which  dwell  the  immortals  of 
modern  romance. 

Of  the  American  historians,  Parkman  and  Ban- 
croft have  exercised  but  little  influence  outside  the 
United  States.  Prescott  and  Motley  rendered  yeo- 
men's service  in  popularizing  history,  and  their  works 
at  once  took  the  place  among  the  foremost  historians 
of  the  world.  Motley  to-day  is  as  popular  as  Ma- 
caulay,  and  is  quite  as  widely  read.  He  may  be 
counted  as  one  of  those  who  contributed  to  enlighten 
the  more  thoughtful  Englishmen  as  to  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  the  struggle  which  is  raging  in  South 
Africa. 

Coming  down  to  more  recent  times,  Walt  Whitman 
may  be  regarded  as  the  first  American  who,  with  bar- 
baric yawp,  startled  the  Old  World  by  a  message  of 
defiance  and  revolt.  Whitman  aspired  to  be  the 
Washington  of  literature,  to  break  the  fetters  of  old 
tradition,  to  which  all  American  poets  before  him  had 
tamely  submitted,  and  to  found  a  new  school  of 
American  poetry,  which  was  to  be  without  form,  but 
gravid  with  the  new  message  of  the  New  World.  , 

Whitman,  a  born  revolutionist,  began  by  revolution- 
izing the  laws  of  metre,  and  constructed  poems,  the 
like  of  which  had  never  before  been  printed  in  English 

285 


American  Humorists 

characters.  He  was  not  so  successful  as  Washington, 
but  he  won  for  himself  a  recognized  place  among  the 
poets  of  our  time,  and  enlarged  the  area  and  the 
method  of  poetic  expression.  Edward  Carpenter  in 
this  country  has  followed  in  his  steps,  but  Whitman's 
influence  has  been  much  wider  than  that  of  his  actual 
imitators  and  disciples.  He  was  a  breezy,  healthy, 
virile  influence  in  modern  literature. 

One  of  the  most  distinctive  contributions  which 
America  has  made  to  the  literature  of  the  world,  is 
that  of  humor,  a  department  in  which  the  Americans 
have  left  their  English  kinsmen  far  behind.  He  who 
contributes  to  the  mirth  of  the  world  makes  humanity 
his  debtor,  and  the  American  humorists  have  put  the 
English-speaking  world  under  heavy  obligation. 
Their  export  is  balanced  by  no  corresponding  import, 
for  in  the  world  of  letters,  unlike  that  of  commerce, 
there  is  no  necessary  reciprocity. 

From  the  days  of  Sam  Slick  down  to  those  of  Mr. 
Dooley,  there  has  been  an  unfailing  succession  of 
American  humorists  whose  writings  have  done  much 
to  drive  dull  care  away  in  many  millions  of  homes. 
Sam  Slick,  with  his  "Wise  Saws  and  Modern  In- 
stances," is  not  an  American  of  the  United  States,  for 
he  hailed  from  the  province  now  included  in  the 
Canadian  Dominion;  but  he  was  distinctively  Amer- 
ican, and  it  was  he  who  made  Britain  acquainted  with 
the  peculiar  note  of  American  mirth. 

After  him  there  have  been  humorists  of  all  kinds, 
from  the  literary  humorist,  like  the  genial  Autocrat 
of  the  Breakfast-table,  down  to  the  latest  arrival,  the 
286 


American  Humorists 

Irish-American  humorist  who  has  familiarized  the 
world  with  the  dialect  and  the  philosophy  of  the 
Chicago  saloon.  Artemus  Ward,  at  one  time  in  the 
ascendant,  has  been  eclipsed  by  Mark  Twain,  who  is 
facile  princcps  among  the  American  writers  of  to-day. 
There  is  no  American  author  whose  works  to-day  are 
as  widely  read  and  translated  into  so  many  languages 
as  those  of  Mr.  Samuel  Clemens.  Whether  grave  or 
gay,  he  can  always  command  a  world-wide  public. 
In  the  colonies,  he  is  as  popular  as  in  the  Old  Country, 
and  such  of  his  humor  as  is  translatable  is  current  in 
every  European  country. 

The  Board  of  Trade  statistics  take  no  account  of  the 
product  of  humor;  but  mankind  which  loves  laughter 
feels  much  more  grateful  to  the  owners  of  the  rare 
gift  which  enables  them  to  tickle  the  midriff  with 
printed  words  than  to  all  its  philosophers.  America 
has  exported,  and  continues  to  export  in  ever-increas- 
ing quantities,  pills  and  drugs  of  all  kinds;  but  a 
merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medicine,  and  Mark 
Twain  has  probably  done  more  to  make  men  happy 
and  healthy  and  wise  than  all  the  artificers  of  patent 
medicines  who  contribute  so  liberally  to  the  advertis- 
ing revenue  of  newspapers  and  magazines. 

Uncle  Remus,  with  his  inimitable  Brer  Rabbit 
stories,  has  contributed  a  distinct  and  welcome  novelty 
to  the  humorous  literature  of  the  world.  It  is  an 
extraordinary  instance  of  the  way  in  which  genuine 
humor  can  triumph  over  difficulties  of  dialect,  s.o  that 
the  public  will  acquire  the  dialect  in  order  the  better 
to  appreciate  the  humor. 

287 


Influence  of  the  Modern  Novelist 

Mr.  Harris  has  achieved  such  success  with  his 
version  of  the  stories  which  Uncle  Remus  told  to  the 
little  boy,  that  at  this  moment  Brer  Rabbit,  Brer  Fox, 
Brer  Terrapin,  to  mention  only  three  of  his  menagerie 
of  favorites,  are  mucli  better  known  and  much  more 
appreciated  outside  America  than  all  the  American 
politicians  who  have  won  fame  and  glory  for  them- 
selves in  the  annals  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  too  early  to  estimate  the  effect  of  the  modern 
American  novelist  upon  English  literature,  but  W. 
D.  Howells,  F.  Marion  Crawford,  and  Henry  James 
are  among  the  authors  who  appeal  to  the  whole 
English-speaking  world.  They  are  not  only  read  by 
the  million,  but  their  style  has  influenced  and  is  influ- 
encing more  and  more  the  new  school  of  British 
novelists. 

In  estimating  the  influence  which  Americans  have 
exercised  by  the  use  of  the  printed  book,  it  is  im- 
possible to  overlook  the  immediate  and  world-wide 
influence  that  was  wielded  by  Henry  George.  In  the 
portrait  gallery  of  notables  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
which  has  just  been  published  by  the  Berlin  Photo- 
graphic Company,  Henry  George  occupies  a  dis- 
tinguished place  as  one  of  the  Americans  of  inter- 
national fame.  His  book  on  "Progress  and  Poverty" 
was  one  of  the  late  products  of  the  century.  It  had 
considerable  difficulty  in  finding  a  publisher  in  the 
land  of  its  birth :  but  it  was  no  sooner  born  into  the 
world  than  it  was  hailed  by  multitudes  in  every  part 
of  the  British  Empire  and  also  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  as  a  veritable  gospel  of  these  latter  days. 
288 


Value  of  American  Influence 

America,  which  represents  the  triumph  of  indi- 
vidualism pushed  to  an  extreme,  has  also  produced 
in  these  latter  days  some  of  the  books  which  have  most 
powerfully  re-acted  against  individualism.  Bellamy's 
"Looking  Backward"  is  perhaps  the  most  conspicu- 
ous instance  of  a  book  without  any  particular  literary 
merit  which,  nevertheless,  commanded  at  once  uni- 
versal circulation,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  portrayed 
in  story  form  a  realized  dream  of  the  modern  Social- 
ist. Sheldon's  books,  equally  devoid  of  any  literary 
charm,  commanded  readers  literally  by  the  million, 
owing  to  the  promise  which  they  held  out  of  better 
things  to  come.  The  American  Idealist  and  Socialist 
who  will  have  the  genius  to  express  with  literary 
charm  his  idealistic  visions  of  a  Socialist  millennium 
will  sweep  in  triumph  through  the  world. 

In  closing  this  very  imperfect  survey  of  the  influ- 
ence of  American  books  on  the  non-American  world, 
one  thing  is  obvious.  The  influence  of  American 
literature  has  been  distinctly  good.  What  there  is  of 
evil  in  it  has  been  consumed  at  home.  The  broad 
Atlantic  has  acted  as  a  potent  antiseptic,  which  has 
killed  noxious  germs  and  only  left  that  which  is 
healthy,  helpful,  and  human  to  reach  our  shores. 
American  humor  has  contributed  much  to  the  gaiety 
of  the  world,  and  American  poetry  has  been  both  re- 
fining and  inspiring  in  its  influence  on  the  masses  of 
our  people. 

The  influence  of  American  Socialists,  from  the  days 
of  Brook  Farm  down  to  the  speculations  of  Mr.  H. 
D.  Lloyd,  have  all  tended  in  the  right  direction  in 

289 


American  Journalism 

widening  the  somewhat  narrow  and  circumscribed 
horizon  which  is  indicated  by  the  phrase  "the  range 
of  practical  politics."  The  influence  of  Henry  George 
is  very  marked  in  New  Zealand  and  in  the  Australian 
Colonies,  where  it  has  probably  produced  much  more 
direct  results  in  legislation  than  in  the  country  which 
gave  it  birth. 

American  journalism  is  a  much  more  distinctive 
product  than  American  literature.  The  American 
newspaper,  thanks  to  the  absence  of  paper  duties  and 
of  advertisement  taxes,  became  popular  long  before 
the  English  newspaper.  Fifty  years  ago  every  Amer- 
ican was  reading  a  daily  newspaper,  whereas  in 
England  not  one  man  in  ten  could  afford  the  luxury. 
Hence,  the  popular  journalism  of  the  new  country  is 
really  older  than  the  popular  journalism  of  the  old. 

The  cheap  press  with  us  is  only  forty  years  old. 
In  America  it  is  at  least  twice  that  age.  The  Amer- 
ican newspaper  from  the  first  was  racy  of  the  soil,  was 
close  to  its  constituency,  and  represented  far  more 
faithfully  than  its  English  contemporaries  the  aspira- 
tions, the  ideas,  and  the  prejudices  of  the  masses  of  the 
people.  These  characteristics  it  has  preserved  to  this 
day. 

The  American  newspaper  is  the  mirror  of  the  life 
of  the  American  people.  It  partakes  of  all  their  char- 
acteristics, their  virtues,  and  the  vices  of  their  virtues. 
It  is  as  huge  as  the  continent  in  which  it  is  produced, 
and  it  is  often  as  crude  as  the  half-settled  territories 
over  which  the  American  people  sprawl.  It  is  the 
fashion  among  English  people,  especially  among  those 
290 


Superior  in  Quantity  and  Quality 

who  know  nothing  about  it,  to  sneer  at  American 
newspapers;  but  take  them  altogether,  the  American 
newspaper  is  distinctly  ahead  of  its  English  contem- 
poraries. 

To  begin  with,  there  is  more  of  it,  more  news,  more 
advertisements,  more  paper,  more  print.  Life  would 
be  impossible  in  America  to  any  American  if  he  had 
to  read  the  whole  of  his  newspaper ;  but  just  as  the 
people  have  wide  and  varied  tastes,  and  the  interests 
of  the  whole  community  have  to  be  catered  for,  every- 
thing goes  in,  and  no  reader  is  expected  to  do  more 
than  assimilate  just  such  portion  of  the  mammoth 
sheet  as  meets  his  taste.  Hence  the  busiest  people  in 
the  world,  who  have  less  time  for  deliberate  reading 
than  any  race,  buy  regularly  morning  and  evening 
more  printed  matter  than  would  fill  a  New  Testament, 
and  on  Sundays  would  consider  themselves  defrauded 
if  they  did  not  have  a  bale  of  printed  matter  delivered 
at  their  doors  almost  equal  in  bulk  to  a  family  Bible. 

They  do  not  read  it  all,  any  more  than  a  cow  eats 
all  the  grass  of  the  meadow  into  which  she  is  turned 
loose  to  graze.  They  browse  over  it,  picking  here 
and  there  such  a  tasty  herbage  as  may  suit  their  pal- 
ates. In  this  way  a  newspaper  comes  to  be  almost  like 
a  Gazetteer  or  an  Encyclopaedia.  No  one  sits  down 
and  reads  a  dictionary  from  end  to  end.  He  dips  into 
it.  So  Americans  dip  into  their  papers  for  what  they 
want.  Unfortunately  newspapers,  unlike  dictionaries, 
are  incapable  of  alphabetical  classification.  Hence 
arises  the  tendency  which  offends  so  many  English 


291 


Time  Saving  Methods 

readers,  of  exaggerated  headings  or  scare-heads,  as 
they  are  called  in  the  slang  of  the  profession. 

The  readers  of  the  Times,  which  rarely  ventures 
upon  a  double  heading,  excepting  on  the  outbreak  of 
a  war  or  the  overturning  of  a  dynasty,  are  unspeakably 
offended  by  finding  the  ordinary  news  set  out  with 
half-a-dozen  head-lines  with  staring  capitals.  But 
these  headlines  are  almost  indispensable  as  a  guide  to 
the  contents  of  the  paper,  and  as  a  corrective  of  the 
excessive  smallness  of  the  type  in  which  American 
papers  are  printed.  A  man  hurrying  to  business  in  a 
tramcar  or  railway  can  read  the  scare-heads  without 
straining  his  eyesight,  and  by  running  his  eyes  along 
the  tops  of  the  columns,  obtains  not  only  a  very  fair 
idea  of  the  contents  of  the  paper,  but  also  discovers 
what  particular  column  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  read. 

The  scare-head  is  like  the  display  in  the  show  win- 
dow in  which  the  tradesman  sets  out  his  wares.  The 
art  of  window-dressing  is  beginning  to  be  acclimatized 
among  us,  and  so  is  the  art  of  scare-heading.  Com- 
paratively few  English  journalists  have  appreciated 
the  fact  that  good  journalism  consists  much  more  in 
the  proper  labelling  and  displaying  of  your  goods 
than  in  the  writing  of  leading  articles.  The  intrinsic 
value  of  news  is  a  quality  which  does  not  depend  upon 
the  editor,  but  the  method  of  display  and  the  setting 
of  the  diamond  is  that  which  affords  scope  for  the 
editorial  art. 

American  journalism,  as  compared  with  that  of 
Great  Britain,  is  more  enterprising,  more  energetic, 
more  extravagant,  and  more  unscrupulous.  The 
292 


The  Interview 

staider  traditions  of  English  newspapers  restrain  even 
the  most  reckless  of  pressmen  within  narrower  limits 
than  the  broad  field  in  which  many  American  journal- 
ists are  permitted  to  wander. 

The  interview  was  a  distinctively  American  inven- 
tion, which  has  been  acclimatized  in  this  country,  al- 
though with  odd  limitations.  The  Times,  for  in- 
stance, will  never  publish  an  interview  with  any  person 
if  it  takes  place  on  British  soil,  but  if  the  same  person 
is  interviewed  by  one  of  its  foreign  correspondents 
and  the  interview  is  sent  over  the  wires,  it  appears 
without  question. 

American  newspapers  differ  endlessly.*  There  are 
some  that  are  almost  as  staid,  not  to  say  stodgy,  as 
any  paper  published  in  Great  Britain.  There  are 
others  that  go  to  the  furthest  extreme  of  vulgar  sen- 
sationalism ;  but  setting  one  off  against  the  other,  the 
American  newspaper  is  much  more  varied  in  its  con- 
tents than  the  journals  of  the  Old  World.  They  have 
more  space,  and  they  take  much  greater  pains  to  serve 
up  their  news  in  a  vivid,  interesting  manner. 

*  I  very  much  dislike  overloading  my  pages  with  statistics, 
and  prefer,  when  possible,  to  relegate  unreadable  columns  of 
figures  to  a  foot-note.  The  following  figures,  extracted  from 
the  United  States  Treasury  Department's  Report  on  the 
progress  of  the  United  States  and  its  material  industries, 
are  too  suggestive  to  be  omitted. 

1870.  1900. 

Population    38,558,371        76,303,387 

Salaries   paid    in    Public    Schools...  $37,832,566    $128,662,880 

Newspapers  and  Periodicals 5,871  21,178 

Post-Offices    in    existence 28,492  76,668 

Receipts  of   Post-Office  Department.  $10,772.221     $102,354,579 

Telegraph    messages    sent 9,157,646        79,696,227 

Railways    in    operation    (miles) 52,922  190,883 

293 


The  Interview 

No  doubt,  American  journalism  has  the  faults  of 
its  qualities,  and  the  perpetual  straining  after  im- 
mediate effect  is  often  indulged  in  with  disastrous 
results  to  what  an  English  journalist  would  regard 
as  consistency  and  •*  decorum.  Whatever  ministers 
most  effectively  to  the  mood  of  the  moment  is  supplied 
hot  and  strong  from  the  press,  and  if  the  mood  of  the 
moment  changes,  then  the  subject  is  dropped  incon- 
tinently, as  if  it  were  a  hot  potato. 

There  is  nothing  better  in  journalism  than  a  good 
interview  conscientiously  reported  by  a  capable  jour- 
nalist, but  there  is  nothing  worse  than  many  of  the 
abominable  perversions  and  inventions  which  are  often 
served  up  under  that  head.  To  make  a  story,  to 
secure  a  "beat"  of  news,  almost  any  manoeuvre  is  re- 
garded as  legitimate,  with  the  result  that  in  some 
papers  the  value  of  an  interview  is  as  much  depreci- 
ated as  were  the  assignats  in  the  critical  times  of  the 
French  Revolution. 

Almost  all  the  best  dailies  in  America  devote  con- 
siderable space  to  illustrations  and  caricatures,  while 
some  of  them  in  their  Sunday  editions  produce  colored 
supplements  for  the  amusement  of  children  with  which 
we  have  nothing  to  compare. 

The  British  Empire  is  sadly  lacking  in  capable  cari- 
caturists. Since  Sir  John  Tenniel  retired,  Mr.  Gould 
is  first  of  British  caricaturists,  and  there  are  some  on 
the  staff  of  Punch  who  are  worthy  of  the  Tenniel  tra- 
dition. Mr.  Furniss  is  still  with  us,  but  has  fallen  far 
below  the  level  of  his  best  days.  Mr.  Ben.  Gough  is 
the  most  capable  caricaturist  whom  Canada  has  pro- 
294 


Caricaturists 

duced,  while  the  artists  of  the  Sydney  Bulletin  and 
the  Melbourne  Punch  produce  work  which  is  cer- 
tainly not  deficient  in  force  and  point. 

But  there  are  many  more  American  caricaturists  of 
the  first  rank  than  the  British.  Judge  and  Puck  have 
the  advantage  of  producing  their  cartoons  in  color,  but 
the  men  on  Life,  to  say  nothing  of  those  on  the  Journal 
and  the  World  of  New  York,  and  the  North  American 
of  Philadelphia,  can  be  relied  upon  to  turn  out  good 
work  almost  every  day.  One  of  the  most  capable 
cartoonists  of  the  United  States,  is  Mr.  Bart  of  the 
Minneapolis  Journal,  while  in  Mr.  P.  J.  Carter  the 
Minneapolis  Times  possesses  a  very  smart  craftsman, 
Minneapolis  having  much  more  than  its  fair  share  of 
this  particular  kind  of  talent. 

It  is  in  the  newspaper  offices  that  the  drive,  bustle 
and  intense  strain  of  American'  life  is  pre-eminently 
centered,  and  the  so-called  "yellow"  journals  are  those 
where  the  national  characteristics  find  the  freest  scope 
and  the  widest  range.  Among  "yellow"  papers  th^ 
Hearst  papers  stand  easily  conspicuous.  Mr.  Pulitzer 
founded  this  latter  day  journalism,  and  for  a  time 
reigned  supreme  in  the  New  York  World.  His  suc- 
cess provoked  Mr.  W.  R.  Hearst  to  enter  the  field, 
and  by  dint  of  lavish  expenditure  and  great  journal- 
istic flaire  he  succeeded  in  building  up  a  newspaper 
which  is  at  once  the  wonder  and  the  despair  of  its 
competitors. 

Mr.  Hearst  is  still  a  young  man,  with  command  of 
unlimited  capital,  who  has  spanned  the  continent  with 
his  three  papers,  the  New  York  Journal,  the  Chicago 

295 


Mr.  Hearst's  Papers 

American,  and  the  San  Francisco  Examiner.  The 
style  of  all  these  journals  is  loud.  There  is  no  limit, 
save  that  of  the  typographer,  to  the  eccentricity  which 
they  adopt  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  their  news, 
and  of  calling  attention  to  their  wares.  During  the 
Cuban  War,  the  Journal  would  sometimes  come  out 
with  its  front  page  consisting  solely  of  about  four  or 
five  lines  in  huge  type,  resembling  nothing  so  much 
as  the  news  bills  of  the  London  evening  papers. 

But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  regard  the  New  York 
Journal  as  a  mere  catch-penny  news-sheet.  It  is  a 
paper  which  has  a  very  clearly  defined  creed,  which  it 
preaches  with  consistency  and  energy.  It  is  true  that 
the  preaching  friars  who  use  it  as  their  rostrum  some- 
times "ding  the  pulpit  to  blads,"  but  when  you  are 
addressing  the  cosmopolitan,  polyglot,  very  busy  mil- 
lions of  people  to  whom  the  Journal  appeals,  it  is  im- 
possible to  speak  with  the  well-bred  whisper  of  diplo- 
macy. There  is  a  difference,  of  course,  between  the 
diplomatic  whisper  and  the  megaphonic  roar  of  the 
Journal,  but  the  wise  man  looks  more  to  the  substance 
of  what  is  said  than  the  manner  of  its  delivery. 

Mr.  Hearst's  famous  definition  of  the  difference  be- 
tween journalism  that  does  things  and  the  journalism 
that  only  chronicles  them,  is  continually  receiving  fresh 
illustrations.  In  his  own  way  he  has  grasped  the  idea, 
not  perfectly  but  still  resolutely,  of  government  by 
journalism,  and  when  experience  and  age  have  brought 
a  little  more  steadiness  Mr.  Hearst  may  become  the 
most  powerful  journalist  in  the  world.  He  embodies 
and  exaggerates  all  the  distinctively  American  qual- 
296 


Good  and  Bad  Qualities 

ities  of  the  later  days.  He  is  self-assertive,  pushing, 
defiant,  and  determined  at  whatever  cost  to  "get  there" 
every  time. 

It  is  a  popular  superstition  among  the  respectable 
Americans  that  no  one  ever  reads  the  Journal.  "Its 
name,  we  never  mention  it;  oh,  no,  'tis  never  heard," 
and  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  after  making  a  prolonged 
tour  in  the  United  States,  was  able  to  assure  the  read- 
ers of  the  Nineteenth  Century  that  during  the  whole 
of  his  travels  he  had  never  once  met  any  person  who 
ever  saw  or  ever  spoke  of  a  yellow  journal. 

"Doth  not  Wisdom  cry?  and  understanding  put 
forth  her  voice?  She  standeth  in  the  top  of  high 
places,  by  the  way  in  the  places  of  the  paths.  She 
crieth  at  the  gates,  at  the  entry  of  the  city,  at  the  com- 
ing in  at  the  doors.  Unto  you,  O  men,  I  call ;  and  my 
voice  is  to  the  sons  of  man." 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  a  good  many  cultured  people 
in  the  olden  time,  who  dwelt  in  their  studies  or  in  their 
lecture-rooms,  were  as  deaf  to  the  voice  of  Wisdom 
thus  publicly  crying  in  the  highways  and  byways  of  the 
city  as  Mr.  Harrison  was  to  the  voice  of  yellow 
journalism.  No  one  can  understand  America  to-day, 
with  all  the  sum  of  its  turbulent  activities,  with  its  best 
and  its  worst,  who  closes  his  eyes  to  the  so-called 
"yellow"  journals.* 

One  of  the  most  recent  exploits  of  the  Hearst  papers 
was  to  assist  two  young  women  in  Chicago  v/ho,  on 

*  People  seem  to  imagine  that  "yellow"  is  an  oppro- 
brious epithet.  Yellow  .was  the  color  which  the  Jews  had 
to  wear  in  the  Ghetto.  The  yellow  rose  is  the  badge  of  Zion- 
ism to-day,  but  the  yellow  of  American  journalism  has  noth- 

297 


Power  of  the  Press 

behalf  of  the  Teachers'  Federation,  took  legal  action 
for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  officials  to  make  a 
fair  assessment  of  property  in  Chicago.  As  the  result 
of  the  support  given  to  the  teachers,  property  valued 
at  £47,000,000  was  added  to  the  rateable  value  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  which  rendered  it  possible,  without 
raising  the  rates,  to  add  half  a  million  to  the  revenue 
of  the  city. 

The  Judge,  in  giving  his  decision  on  the  question, 
declared  that  the  Chicago  American,  in  fighting  the 
tax-dodgers,  had  been  fearless,  and  there  was  no  ques- 
tion of  its  devotion  to  public  honesty.  As  the  Journal 
pleasantly  remarked:  "This  is  only  one  of  a  hundred 
instances  in  which  the  Hearst  newspapers  have 
stepped  with  spiked  boots  on  the  toes  of  thieving  cor- 
porations. Hence  you  can  begin  to  appreciate  the  ex- 
tent of  the  animosity  against  them  among  the  preda- 
tory classes." 

It  maintained,  not  without  reason,  that  many 
"respectable"  persons,  who  foamed  at  the  mouth  at  the 
mention  of  "yellow  journalism"  did  so  because  they 
feared  its  fearlessness.  The  virulent  fanatic  hatred 
with  which  yellow  journalism  is  regarded  led  Mr. 

ing  to  do  with  that.  It  originated  in  the  fact  that  first  one 
of  these  journals  and  then  another  employed  in  its  color- 
printed  weekly  supplements  the  picture  of  a  child  dressed 
in  a  yellow  frock,  who  is  known  as  the  "yellow  kid."  The 
adventures  of  this  small  urchin  were  described  week  after 
week,  and  the  continual  reappearance  of  the  yellow-frocked 
youngster  gave  the  name  of  yellow  to  the  journals  in  whose 
pages  it  figured.  There  was  nothing  opprobrious  in  the  epi- 
thet, and  it  has  been  so  absurdly  misapplied  that  yellow, 
in  the  mouth  of  some  people,  is  almost  a  synonym  for  go- 
ahead  and  enterprise. 

298 


Spiked-Boot  Journalism 

Hearst  to  say:  "What  is  the  trouble  then?  It  has 
nothing  to  do  with  morals,  for  the  Journal,  the  Amer- 
ican, and  the  Examiner  are  more  scrupulous  in  regard 
to  the  character  of  the  matter  they  print  than  any  other 
papers  of  general  circulation  in  their  respective  cities. 
It  has  nothing  to  do  with  politics,  for  these  journals 
have  set  an  example  of  fair  and  courteous  treatment 
of  political  opponents,  that  has  been  gratefully  recog- 
nized by  the  partisan  leaders  they  have  fought."  The 
real  secret  of  the  hatred  is  because  they  come  down 
with  spiked  boots  upon  so  many  dishonest  people's 
toes.  Another  delusion  is  that  the  Hearst  papers  have 
no  policy.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  maintained  a 
very  definite  policy  both  in  home  and  foreign  affairs. 
Most  of  their  demands  in  foreign  affairs  are  now  ac- 
cepted by  the  nation,  and  are  recognized  as  part  and 
parcel  of  the  policy  of  the  United  States.  In  home 
affairs  they  propounded  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1901  the  following  seven-headed  programme,  which  is 
worth  while  bearing  in  mind : — 

(i)  Election  of  senators  by  the  people  ;  (2)  destruc- 
tion of  criminal  trusts;  (3)  no  protection  for  oppres- 
sive trusts;  (4)  the  public  ownership  of  public 
franchises;  (5)  a  graduated  income  tax;  (6)  currency 
reform;  (7)  national,  state,  and  municipal  improve- 
ment of  the  public  school  system. 

Here  are  politics,  says  the  Journal,  which  look  to- 
wards progress,  and  represent  the  truest  Americanism. 

There  is  some  talk  of  Mr.  Hearst  starting  a  daily 
paper  in  London.  There  is  plenty  of  room  here  for 
spiked  boots  that  come  down  roughly  upon  the  toes  of 

299 


Magazine  Literature 

evil-doers,  and  to-day  we  should  welcome  a  vigorous, 
energetic  newspaper  of  the  Hearst  kind,  even  if  it  did 
overdo  the  scare-head  and  the  big  type. 

The  periodical  magazine  is  another  form  of  literary 
activity  in  which  the  Americans  have  outstripped  the 
British,  especially  in  the  matter  of  illustrations.  The 
Century,  Scribner's  and  Harper's  are  three  periodicals 
for  the  like  of  which  we  may  search  in  vain  through 
the  periodical  literature  of  the  world.  The  Cosmo- 
politan, McClure's,  and  Everybody's  Magazine  are 
also  as  good  as,  and  often  better  than  the  best  of  our 
popular  sixpennies.  The  American  Review  of  Re- 
views is  much  superior  both  in  price  and  general  get- 
up  and  advertisements  to  the  English  Review  of  Re- 
views, from  which  it  sprang.  We  have  no  magazine 
comparable  to  the  World's  Work.  Neither  have  we 
anything  comparable  to  the  Youth's  Companion,  the 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  or  Success. 

Of  the  non-illustrated  magazines,  the  North  Amer- 
ican may  challenge  comparison  with  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  but  on  the  high-priced  magazines  the  old 
country  still  has  the  pull,  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  Russia  and  France.  The  American  magazine  has 
an  advantage  over  its  English  competitors  in  the  postal 
rates,  "which  enable  second-class  mail  matter  to  be  sent 
through  the  post  at  an  almost  nominal  charge,  whereas 
in  England  the  postage  often  adds  50  per  cent,  to  the 
cost  of  the  magazine.* 

*  The  privilege  of  sending  periodicals  through  the  post,  as 
second  class  mail  matter  at  a  nominal  postage  rate  has  been 
much  abused.  Several  so-called  magazines  are  serial  direc- 
tories, others  are  mere  advertising  pamphlets ;  and  at  one  time 

300 


Reforming  the  Language 

Discussing  the  Americanization  of  the  world,  it  is 
necessary  to  say  at  least  a  passing  word  upon  the 
Americanization  of  the  English  language.  It  is  the 
fashion  in  some  quarters  to  believe  that  the  Americans 
are  corrupting  the  language.  The  Americans,  on  the 
other  hand,  maintain  with  considerable  show  of  reason, 
that  many  words  and  phrases  which  we  regard  as  dis- 
tinctively American  are  really  from  the  well  of  English 
tmdefiled  as  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  spacious  times 
of  Great  Elizabeth. 

They  also  maintain  that  London  is  the  great  cor- 
rupter  of  English  pronunciation,  and  it  is  tolerably 
certain  that  if  there  were  to  be  an  Academy  of  the 
Language  formed,  many  of  the  greatest  purists  would 
come  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Americans  have  taken  the  lead  in  eliminating 
what  they  regard  as  superfluous  letters  from  English 
words,  a  process  which  in  time  may  make  great  change 
in  the  outward  appearance,  although  not  in  the  pro- 
nunciation of  our  mother-tongue.  Long  ago  the 
Americans  dropped  the  superfluous  "u"  in  such  words 
as  "honour,"  and  substituted  "z"  for  "s"  in  words  like 
"organise." 

The  National  Educational  Association  formally 
adopted  for  use  in  all  its  official  publications  a  simpli- 
fied spelling  for  these  twelve  words — program,  tho, 
altho,  thoro,  thorofare,  thru,  thruout,  catalog,  prolog, 
decalog,  demagog,  pedagog. 

almost  any  book  could  be  sent  through  the  post  at  maga- 
zine rates,  if  only  it  were  brought  out  in  a  series.  These 
abuses  are,  however,  being  vigorously  dealt  with,  to  the  great 
benefit  of  the  legitimate  magazines. 

30J 


Improved  Spelling 

The  United  States  Government  some  time  ago  ap- 
pointed a  Board  to  decide  on  a  uniform  spelling  for 
geographical  names.  They  reported  in  favor  of  the 
elimination  of  the  unnecessary  letters,  so  that  Behring 
Straits  in  the  American  official  publications  is  spelt 
without  the  "h."  A  committee  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science  has  also  drawn 
up  rules  for  the  uniform  spelling  of  chemical  terms. 
Its  most  important  recommendations,  which  have  been 
adopted  in  the  school-books,  eliminate  the  final  "e" 
from  such  words  as  "oxide,"  "iodide,"  "chloride," 
"quinine,"  "morphine,"  "aniline,"  etc. 

This  tendency  to  eliminate  superfluous  letters,  al- 
though much  to  be  lamented  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  philologist  who  wishes  to  trace  the  origin  of 
words,  nevertheless  represents  a  simplicity  in  spelling 
and  economy  in  space.  It  is  not  difficult  to  foresee 
the  coming  of  a  still  greater  change. 

Some  day  the  American,  with  his  characteristic 
directness  and  genius  for  going  straight  to  the  point, 
recognizing  that  the  one  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  universal  adoption  of  the  English  language  as  a 
means  of  communication  between  man  and  man  is  its 
spelling,  will  take  courage  and  reduce  the  language  of 
Shakespeare  and  Milton  to  a  phonetic  system.  The 
literary  sense  shudders  at  the  thought  of  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  familiar  words,  which  have  become  in- 
dissolubly  associated  with  the  ideas  which  they  ex- 
press, but  from  a  practical  point  of  view,  the  conven- 
ience of  the  change  would  be  incalculable. 

Those  who  live  in  the  period  of  transition  will  have 
302 


An  American  Language 

a  bad  time,  but  all  future  generations  will  gain  when 
the  spelling  of  the  words  is  made  to  correspond  to  the 
way  in  which  they  are  pronounced.  Thus  possibly 
the  Americans  may  adopt  the  change  many  years 
before  it  is  accepted  in  more  conservative  Britain.  In 
that  case  there  will  be  a  great  danger  of  our  losing 
the  one  adjective  which  describes  our  common  race, 
for  their  language  will  be  known  as  the  American  as 
distinct  from  the  English.  We  shall  have  two 
tongues  prouounced  in  the  same  way,  but  spelt  very 
differently. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how,  if  the  unification  of  the  English- 
speaking  race  is  not  speedily  effected,  such  an  altera- 
tion would  make  a  very  subtle  appeal  to  the  instinct 
of  American  patriotism.  At  the  present  time  an  Amer- 
ican must  speak  English,  for  he  cannot  differentiate 
the  language  which  he  speaks  from  that  of  the  Mother 
Country;  but,  if  the  spelling  were  altered,  the  Amer- 
icans would  have  a  language  of  their  own.  Let  us 
hope  that  from  so  great  a  disaster  the  Race  may  be 
saved  by  the  Union  which  will  secure  that  the  altera- 
tion in  spelling  shall  be  effected  simultaneously 
throughout  the  whole  area  of  the  English-speaking 
world. 


303 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Third 

Art,  Science  and  Music 

FIFTY  years  ago,  even  thirty  years  ago,  an  allusion 
to  American  art  would  have  provoked  an  incredulous 
smile  on  the  part  of  our  Royal  Academicians.  The 
Americans  were  supposed  to  have  a  supreme  capacity 
for  producing  pork  and  corn,  but  as  for  the  fine  arts 
we  have  only  to  turn  to  English  newspapers  at  the 
time  when  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Dickens  were  regarded 
as  the  chief  authorities  upon  things  American,  to 
realize  how  absurd  must  have  seemed  a  suggestion  that 
even  in  this  field  Britons  Would  not  be  able  to  hold 
their  own. 

That  this  is  the  fact  in  at  least  some  branches  of  art 
has  been  formally  attested  this  year  in  the  most  official 
fashion.  The  Coronation  of  Edward  VII.  is  the  great 
ceremonial  event  to  which  we  are  all  looking  forward 
in  1902.  It  is  more  than  sixty  years  since  the  old 
Abbey  witnessed  the  coronation  of  a  British  Sovereign. 
All  the  resources  of  the  Empire  will  be  employed  to 
make  the  coronation  of  the  King  as  perfect  a  picture 
and  symbol  of  the  Empire  as  the  wit  or  imagination 
of  man  can  devise. 
304 


American  Artists  Supreme 

But  when  the  question  arose  as  to  the  artist  to 
whom  should  be  deputed  the  duty  of  making  perma- 
nent the  picture  of  the  great  scene  upon  which  the  eyes 
of  the  world  will  be  centered  next  June,  the  King 
passed  over  all  British  artists,  and  selected  for  the 
supreme  task  a  citizen  of  the  Republic.  It  is  by  the 
aid  of  the  brush  of  Mr.  Edwin  Abbey,  an  American 
artist,  that  posterity  will  picture  the  crowning  of 
Edward  VII. 

This  Royal  homage  to  Republican  genius  by  no 
means  stands  alone,  nor  is  Mr.  Abbey  the  only  Amer- 
ican who  in  the  opinion  of  the  British  themselves  has 
been  worthy  of  the  highest  place  among  British  artists. 
In  last  year's  Academy  Mr.  Sargent  was  facile  prin- 
ceps.  It  was  Sargent's  year,  said  the  art  critics,  with 
astonishing  unanimity,  and  some  did  not  even  hesitate 
to  accompany  their  tribute  to  Mr.  Sargent  with  more 
or  less  contumelious  reflections  upon  the  British-born 
artists,  whose  canvases  they  declared  only  served  as 
foils  to  the  supreme  excellence  of  the  American. 

Mr.  Whistler  is  another  notable  American  whose 
original  genius  has  triumphed  over  all  the  prejudice 
excited  by  a  somewhat  eccentric  form  of  expression. 
Of  course  it  may  be  said,  and  justly  said,  that  the 
British  pictures  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  were 
superior,  taken  as  a  whole,  to  those  exhibited  by  Amer- 
ican artists,  but  it  is  the  excellence  of  the  supreme 
artist  rather  than  the  general  average  of  the  rank  and 
file  which  counts  in  the  history  of  art. 

The  Royal  Munich  Academy  this  year  has  selected 
for  special  honor  three  English-speaking  artists,  two 

305 


American  Artists  Supreme 

of  whom,  Mr.  Sargent  and  Mr.  Abbey,  are  American, 
and  one,  Mr.  Walter  Crane,  is  an  Englishman.  But 
both  of  the  American  artists  are  acclimatized  in  the 
Old  World.  Mr.  Sargent  was  born  in  Italy  of  Amer- 
ican parents,  and  he  may  be  said  to  be  Europeanized 
from  his  birth.  Mr.  Abbey,  born  in  Philadelphia, 
was  educated  in  America,  but  he  quitted  the  New 
World  two  and  twenty  years  ago. 

Mr.  Whistler  is  a  voluntary  exile  from  his  native 
land.  It  is  inevitable  that  the  Old  World  should 
attract  the  artists  for  a  time,  but  that  time  is  passing. 
American  sculptors  find  a  most  congenial  home  in 
Rome,  and  American  artists  prefer  Paris  and  London 
to  New  York  or  Chicago. 

But  while  they  go  abroad  to  be  Europeanized  and 
to  profit  by  the  picture  galleries  of  Europe,  they  can- 
not be  Europeanized  without  each  of  them  exercising 
a  more  or  less  Americanizing  influence  upon  the  society 
in  the  midst  of  which  they  live.  For  the  American, 
like  a  lump  of  sugar  or  a  drop  of  vinegar — whichever 
you  prefer — in  a  glass  of  water,  always  makes  his 
personality  felt. 

American  students  troop  to  Paris  in  such  numbers 
that  they  have  an  association  of  their  own,  which  every 
year  holds  an  exhibition.  The  Association  is  not  com- 
posed exclusively  of  Americans,  but  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  predominate.  It  is  said  that  there 
are  no  fewer  than  two  hundred  American  architects 
at  the  Beaux-Arts,  while  American  artists  are  much 
more  numerous. 

In  England  we  have  recently  witnessed  the  forma- 

306 


An  Internationalizing  Element 

tion  of  an  International  Society  for  sculptors,  painters, 
and  gravers,  which  holds  its  own  exhibitions,  at  which 
its  members  show  their  best  work  in  such  a  fashion 
that  it  may  be  seen  to  the  best  advantage.  Its  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Whistler,  is  an  American.  Mr.  Pennell, 
who  is  one  of  the  best  black  and  white  artists  in  Lon- 
don, is  also  an  American.  Mr.  St.  Gaudens,  Mr. 
MacMonnies,  Mr.  Chase,  Mr.  Alexander,  and  Mr. 
Melchers,  are  among  the  honorary  members;  Mr. 
Humphreys  Johnston,  Mr.  Muhrman,  Mr.  Mura, 
among  the  associates;  while  this  year  Mr.  Lungren 
and  Mr.  McLure  Hamilton  were  exhibitors. 

So  that  the  International  Society  will  be  largely 
American.  That  is,  indeed,  but  symbolical  of  the 
change  which  is  going  on  on  a  larger  scale  in  every 
department  of  life.  The  Americans  are  a  great  inter- 
nationalizing element.  Being  themselves  an  amalgam 
of  many  nations,  they  constitute  a  kind  of  human  flux, 
which  enables  the  diverse  elements  of  hostile  national- 
ities to  form  a  harmonious  whole.  In  our  Royal 
Academy  we  have  at  present  only  two  Americans,  but 
they  worthily  uphold  the  honor  of  the  United  States. 

There  is  very  excellent  reason  why  American  artists 
should  prefer  to  paint  in  the  Old  World.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Alexander,  the  painter,  in  a  recent  lecture  before  the 
National  Art  Club  of  New  York,  explained  one  reason 
why  the  artist  prefers  to  paint  outside  his  native  land. 
A  prophet  has  no  honor  in  his  own  country,  and  Mr. 
Alexander  declares  that  the  price  of  a  picture  painted 
in  the  United  States  is  scarcely  more  than  one-fifth  of 
what  it  would  bring  if  it  had  been  painted  abroad  by 

307 


A  Prophecy  of  Greatness 

the  same  artist  in  the  same  style  and  with  the  same 
merits. 

Pictures,  in  the  opinion  of  American  collectors,  still, 
it  would  seem,  require  the  hall-mark  of  Europe.  A 
heavy  duty  imposed  upon  works  of  art,  a  kind  of  pro- 
tection for  American  artists,  fails  in  its  purpose,  and 
leads  American  collectors  to  keep  their  collections  in 
London  rather  than  in  New  York. 

The  American  with  his  brush  as  yet  has  probably 
had  less  influence  upon  European  art  than  the  Amer- 
ican with  his  dollars,  for  Maecenas,  who  in  the  old 
days  was  patron  of  all  art  and  letters  in  Imperial 
Rome,  has  been  reincarnated  nowadays  with  an  Amer- 
ican accent.  In  all  the  great  cities  in  America  picture 
galleries  are  growing  up,  to  which  from  time  to  time 
the  masterpieces  of  Europe  are  transported  with  rev- 
erent hands,  and  displayed  as  a  perennial  source  of 
culture  before  the  eyes  of  the  young  Democracy. 

A  French  artist,  M.  Edmond  Aman  Jean,  who  re- 
cently visited  America,  has  lately  published  a  rather 
remarkable  appreciation  of  American  art.  He  said 
that  although  he  had  often  served  on  the  Salon  juries 
in  Paris,  he  had  never  seen  so  much  justice  and  such  a 
strict  honesty  as  was  manifested  in  the  examination  of 
the  works  which  made  up  the  Carnegie  Exhibition  in 
1901.  And  then,  going  on  to  speak  of  American  art 
as  a  whole,  he  declared: — 

"  My  conviction   is  that,   like   Venice,   the   United 

States  will  have  one  day  the  most  magnificent  school 

of  painting  in   the   world.     Venice   commenced    like 

America,  by  industry  and  commerce.     She  had  her 

308 


Originality  in  Architecture 

sellers  before  she  had  her  painters.  She  was  obliged 
to  acquire  opulence  and  domination  before  she  could 
found  a  school  of  art.  Generations  must  pass  away 
yet  before  in  the  field  of  art  old  Europe  will  be  defin- 
nitely  vanquished,  but  the  generations  will  be  born,  will 
live  and  die,  and  the  new  art  will  come  permanently 
into  existence." 

American  architecture  is  ill  understood  by  those  who 
imagine  that  its  culminating  triumph  has  been  the 
construction  of  thirty-story  sky-scrapers.  No  one  is 
likely  to  fall  into  such  an  error  who  visited  the  World's 
Fair  in  Chicago.  The  Court  of  Honor,  with  its  pal- 
aces surrounding  the  great  fountain,  the  slender 
columns  of  the  peristyle,  the  golden  dome  of  the  ad- 
ministration building,  formed  a  picture  the  like  of 
which  the  world  has  not  seen  before. 

The  long  stately  lines  of  the  great  palaces,  the  glory 
of  the  colonnades,  and  the  beauty  of  the  lagoons,  in 
which  the  great  buildings  were  mirrored  when  the 
waters  were  not  disturbed  by  the  gondolas,  left  an  im- 
pression of  perfect  beauty  and  stately  symmetry  never 
equalled  in  any  of  the  most  famous  architectural 
marbles  of  the  Old  World. 

Yet  the  buildings  had  none  of  the  associations  of 
history  and  of  tradition  which  contribute  so  largely 
to  impress  the  pilgrims  to  the  great  cathedrals  of  the 
Middle  Ages  or  the  temples  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The 
buildings  were  new  from  the  architect's  hands.  It 
was  a  great  tribute  to  the  genius  of  their  builders  that 
the  buildings  which  they  reared  could  produce  so  con- 
stant and  abiding  an  effect.  The  race  which  could 

309 


Men  of  Science 

produce  the  Court  of  Honor  in  the  World's  Fair  will 
cover  the  Continent  with  imperishable  monuments  of 
its  genius. 

In  sculpture  the  Americans  are  as  productive  as 
original  and  as  instinct  with  forceful  virility.  Mr. 
St.  Gaudens  is  probably  the  greatest  living  sculptor, 
if  we  except  M.  Roden. 

Passing  from  art  to  science,  the  first  two  American 
naturalists  whose  names  became  known  to  the  Old 
World  were  Audubon  in  ornithology,  and  Professor 
Agassiz.  It  is  a  long  time  since  they  passed  away,  'so 
long  that  they  appear  almost  to  belong  to  a  vanished 
world.  In  the  Twentieth  Century  there  seems  to  be 
ample  ground  for  believing  that  the  Americans  will 
distance  us  in  science  more  decisively  than  in  almost 
any  other  department  of  human  activity. 

The  reason  for  this  lies,  not  only  in  the  genius  of 
the  people,  but  because  the  provision  made  for  scien- 
tific research  by  the  munificence  of  American  million- 
aires is  infinitely  in  excess  of  anything  that  is  pro- 
vided in  the  British  Empire.  Sir  Norman  Lockyer 
recently  made  a  bitter  lament  as  to  the  scandalous 
neglect  of  science  by  the  British  Government.  Recom- 
mendations made  years  ago  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Scientific  Council  have  never  been  carried  into  effect, 
and  there  is  hardly  any  department  of  scientific  re- 
search that  is  provided  even  with  sufficient  funds  to 
find  itself  with  its  necessary  instruments. 

Not  only  do  the  Americans  equip  all  their  great 
universities  with  magnificent  apparatus  and  adequate 
endowments,  but  they  send  their  ablest  students 
310 


Clever  American  Girls 

abroad  to  study  with  the  best  experts  in  every  branch 
of  science.  They  tap  the  brains  of  the  world,  and 
keep  themselves  fully  abreast  of  the  latest  results  of 
modern  research. 

Not  only  is  this  true  of  what  may  be  called  the 
Brahmins  of  science,  but  American  newspapers  take 
much  more  pains  to  popularize  scientific  discoveries 
than  is  thought  worth  while  by  their  English  admir- 
ers. The  yellowest  of  yellow  journals  will  describe, 
in  page  after  page,  the  latest  discovery  in  astronomy 
or  the  most  recent  speculations  as  to  the  art  and  cul- 
ture of  Palaeolithic  man. 

Another  notable  advantage  which  the  Americans 
have  in  the  scientific  field  is  that  they  draw  both  sexes, 
whereas  in  England,  with  very  few  exceptions,  science 
is  a  monopoly  of  the  male.  One  of  the  most  remark- 
able instances  of  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  lay 
the  talents  of  both  sexes  under  contribution  in  the 
work  of  science  is  afforded  by  the  story  of  the 
Klumpke  sisters.  There  are  four  of  them.  Miss 
Dorothea  Klumpke,  the  brilliant  San  Francisco  girl, 
won  for  herself  a  distinguished  and  unique  position 
in  the  Paris  Observatory,  where  she  has  been  em- 
ployed for  years  at  the  head  of  a  large  staff  of  girls 
in  making  a  chart  of  the  heavens. 

She  was  one  of  the  astronomers  selected  by  the 
French  Government  to  observe  the  recent  eclipse  of 
the  sun.  Not  only  is  she  an  astronomer,  but  also  she 
is  an  intrepid  aeronaut,  and,  if  current  gossip  be  well 
founded,  she  was  in  a  balloon  at  the  fateful  moment 
when  she  found  her  destiny  in  the  stars  in  another 


Clever  American  Girls 

than  an  astrological  sense.  The  Klumpke  girls  form 
a  remarkable  group,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
group  of  sisters  at  present  on  this  planet.  Dorothea, 
the  astronomer,  is  the  eldest. 

After  her  comes  tier  sister  Anna,  who  is  an  artist, 
and  famous  as  the  intimate  friend  and  legatee  of  Rosa 
Bonheur;  Augusta,  a  doctor,  was  the  first  woman  to 
obtain  an  appointment  as  house-surgeon  in  a  Paris 
hospital,  and  she  subsequently  married  a  French 
doctor.  Julia  Klumpke  has  already  achieved  fame  as 
a  violinist  and  a  singer.  A  few  more  families  like 
the  Klumpke  girls  would  Americanize  Europe  with  a 
vengeance.  Unfortunately  such  groups  are  rare,  even 
in  the  United  States. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  attempt  even  the  most 
cursory  survey  of  the  contributions  that  Americans 
have  made  to  human  science,  which,  being  of  no 
country  and  cosmopolitan  in  its  nature,  bears  perhaps 
less  trace  of  Americanization  than  many  other  depart- 
ments of  human  activity.  It  would  be  presumption 
on  my  part  to  attempt  even  to  summarize  in  outline 
the  contributions  which  Americans  have  made  to 
modern  science. 

All  that  I  wish  to  do  here  is  to  remind  the  public, 
and  especially  my  own  countrymen,  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  Americans  in  this  as  in  other  departments 
of  life,  in  order  to  combat  the  prevalent  delusion  which 
still  lingers  in  many  Old-World  quarters,  that  the 
Americans  are  nothing  more  than  growers  of  corn  and 
rearers  of  pork. 

Astronomy  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  sublime  of 
3J2 


America  Leads  in  Astronomy 

all  sciences,  and  it  is  precisely  in  this  science  that  the 
Americans  are  leading  the  world.  Sir  Robert  Ball, 
Astronomer-Royal,  recently  declared  to  Mr.  G.  P. 
Serviss,  an  American  astronomer,  that — 

"America  now  leads  the  van  of  astronomical  science. 
The  greatest  advance,"  he  said,  "that  astronomy  has  recently 
made  is  what  the  Americans  have  been  doing.  It  is  the  work 
accomplished  by  Professor  Keeler  at  the  great  Lick  Ob- 
servatory in  California.  I  do  not  know  of  anything  in  as- 
tronomy so  important  as  what  he  did  a  little  before  his  death, 
when  he  discovered  the  nebular  wonders  of  the  heavens. 
I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  can  be  compared  to  this  dis- 
covery in  the  recent  advance  of  astronomy  for  its  immense 
importance  and  significance,  for  the  light  which  it  throws 
upon  the  origin  of  the  solar  system,  and  the  suggestion 
which  it  makes  as  to  the  beginnings  of  the  manner  of  forma- 
tion of  such  systems." 

So  said  Sir  Robert  Ball  at  the  end  of  last  October, 
and  three  weeks  had  hardly  passed  before  the  astron- 
omers in  the  Lick  Observatory  reported  a  new  con- 
quest in  the  unexpected  and  startling  discovery  which 
they  made  in  photographing  a  star  in  Nova  Persii. 

About  the  same  time  occurred  the  publication  of  a 
report  of  Professor  Pickering,  of  Harvard,  describing 
the  results  of  his  spectroscopic  analysis  of  lightning, 
which,  in  his  judgment,  suggests  that  hydrogen  is  not 
an  element,  but  only  a  compound.  Professor  Picker- 
ing further  reported  that  "there  is  a  close  resemblance 
between  the  spectrum  of  lightning  and  that  of  the  new 
star  in  Perseus."  Science  may  be  thus  started  upon 
new  fields. 

One  of  the  early  characteristics  of  the  American, 
noted  by  all  Englishmen  who  visited  the  country  in  the 

3(3 


Yankee  Ways 

•first  half  of  last  century,  was  the  intense  spirit  of 
curiosity,  of  Yankee  inquisitiveness,  as  it  was  called. 
In  those  early  days  the  habit  of  cross-examining  a 
stranger  down  to  the  ground  upon  all  the  details  of 
his  life  and  business  may  have  been  carried  to  lengths 
which  were  hardly  consistent  with  the  hospitality  due 
to  the  stranger  within  their  gates.  But  the  essence  of 
inquisitiveness  is  the  spirit  of  inquiry  which  forms  the 
basis  of  all  scientific  progress. 

The  Yankee  who  in  the  railway  car  asked  you  who 
you  were,  what  your  income  was,  what  you  had  done, 
and  what  you  hoped  to  do,  was  treating  you  as  every 
man  of  science  treats  every  unknown  phenomenon 
which  presents  itself  to  him.  The  scientist  is  a  per- 
petual note  of  interrogation,  and  this  intense  eager- 
ness to  know,  to  find  out  things,  and  a  certain  child- 
like faculty  of  constantly  renewed  wonderment,  affords 
broad  and  deep  foundation  for  the  future  pre-eminence 
of  America  in  scientific  pursuits. 

With  sandwichmen  parading  the  streets  of  London, 
announcing  two  performances  daily  of  Sousa's  band, 
we  have  one  side  of  American  music  brought  very 
prominently  before  the  attention  of  the  London  public. 

The  "Washington  Post  March"  has  drummed  itself 
into  the  ears  of  the  whole  world.  The  great  American 
composers,  however,  have  yet  to  be  born,  but  Amer- 
ican prima  donnas  are  arising  to  charm  the  Old  World 
with  the  native  wood-notes  wild  of  the  New  World. 
For  many  years  American  audiences  have  been  thrilled 
by  the  notes  of  European  artists.  They  are  beginning 
to  repay  their  debt. 
311 


Musicians  and  Singers 

It  is  rather  odd  to  read  that  a  young  Illinois  woman, 
Miss  Minnie  Methot,  after  beginning  her  career  as 
soprano  in  the  first  Congregational  Church  in  Evans- 
ton,  Illinois,  has  been  chosen  to  sing  one  of  the  lead- 
ing parts  in  Paderewski's  new  opera  of  "Manru"  in 
Berlin. 

Not  less  interesting,  but  even  more  significant,  is  the 
fact  that  German  jealousy  of  American  competition 
has  shown  itself  on  the  operatic  stage,  and  that  more 
than  once  American  singers  have  been  compelled  to 
abandon  roles  which  they  were  recognized  as  the  fittest 
to  fill,  because  of  the  jealousy  of  their  fellow-artists 
of  the  Old  World,  who  resent  American  rivalry  on  the 
stage  as  much  as  German  Protectionists  resent  the 
import  of  American  goods  into  the  market. 

Emma  Nevada  is  another  of  the  American  canta- 
trices  whose  talents  have  commanded  European  recog- 
nition, and  it  will  be  remembered  was  one  of  the  last 
singers  commanded  to  sing  in  private  before  Queen 
Victoria.  The  use  of  singing  as  a  means  of  Evangel- 
ization, if  not  originally  an  American  notion,  received 
its  chief  recognition  from  Americans. 

Mr.  Phillip  Phillips,  the  Singing  Pilgrim,  began 
it,  but  it  was  Mr.  Sankey  who  made  sacred  song  more 
important  as  an  instrument  of  revival  than  the  sermon. 
The  latest  movement  among  the  churches  in  Chicago 
has  been  the  formation  of  a  plan  at  Chicago  Theo- 
logical Seminary  for  starting  a  school  of  church  music 
where  preachers  and  choirs  could  study  under  pro- 
fessors selected  for  their  special  knowledge  of  the  best 
,use  of  music  in  religious  worship. 

3J5 


Future  Triumphs 

Few  things  struck  me  more  when  I  was  in  Chicago 
than  the  attention  which  was  paid  to  music,  and  the 
popularity  of  high-class  music.  Some  people  say  that 
the  Americans  owe  tljis  to  the  large  infusion  of  the 
Germans.  If  this  be  so,  Americans  have  taken  to 
it  very  kindly.  A  remarkable  tribute  to  American 
music  was  recently  paid  by  Dr.  Wilhelm  Klatte,  who, 
last  November,  in  the  course  of  his  series  of  lectures 
on  the  history  of  music,  declared  his  conviction  that 
the  United  States  would  be  teaching  Europe  music 
within  twenty  years. 

"America,"  he  said,  "is  undoubtedly  on  the  threshold 
of  a  great  musical  career.  Native  composition  is  only 
emerging  from  its  infancy,  and  most  American  musical 
exponents  are  fresh  from  European  schooling.  But 
music,  like  everything  else,  will  become  typically 
American." 

What  evidently  impressed  Dr.  Klatte  deeply  was 
the  presence  in  Berlin  of  such  large  numbers  of  earn- 
est and  devoted  students  of  music  from  across  the 
Atlantic. 

"The  records  of  our  Conservatories  show  that  out 
of  an  average  class  of  five  hundred,  one-fifth  is  com- 
posed of  Yankees,  while  the  remainder  are  Germans. 
Never  fewer  than  forty-five  Americans  obtain  first 
honors,  while  if  two  hundred  Germans  manage  to 
secure  a  like  position,  the  percentage  is  high." 

Some  American  critics  have  looked  askance  at  Dr. 
Klatte's  compliments,  with  a  suspicion  that  he  is  pok- 
ing fun  at  them  with  his  complimentary  prophecies. 


316 


Of  American  Music 

But  Dr.  Klatte  is  a  distinguished  musical  critic  on  the 
most  widely  circulated  Berlin  newspaper,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  not  expressing  a 
genuine  conviction  as  to  the  future  triumphs  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  musical  world. 


317 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fourth 

Marriage  and  Society 

AMONG  the  influences  which  are  Americanizing  the 
world,  the  American  girl  is  one  of  the  most  conspicu- 
ous and  the  most  charming. 

"Few  people  have  any  idea,"  said  Lord  Dufferin  to 
me  some  twenty  years  ago,  in  discussing  the  influence 
of  America  upon  the  world,  "of  the  extent  to  which 
the  diplomatic  service  is  Americanized  by  the  influ- 
ence of  marriage.  Nearly  all  the  attaches  of  the  vari- 
ous embassies  at  Washington  are  captured,  before  their 
term  of  office  expires,  by  American  beauties  and  Amer- 
ican heiresses.  The  result  is  that  the  diplomatic 
service,  the  only  service  which  is  really  cosmopolitan, 
is  Americanized  through  and  through." 

Lord  Dufferin  was  the  first  to  point  out  what  has 
long  since  been  familiar  to  every  one.  Count  Hatz- 
feldt,  who  was  for  so  many  years  German  Ambassador 
in  London,  was  one  of  the  many  German  diplomatists 
who  had  married  an  American  wife.  The  most  con- 
3J8 


How  Society  is  Americanized 

spicuous  features  in  this  romantic  marriage  were  re- 
called and  expatiated  upon  at  length  in  all  the  Amer- 
ican papers  on  the  occasion  of  the  Count's  death. 

A  still  more  curious  illustration  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  American  woman  has  married  into  the  very 
heart  of  German  diplomacy  was  afforded  by  the  fact 
that  when  the  German  Ambassador  at  Peking  was 
killed  by  the  Boxers  he  left  an  American  widow,  and 
that  when  Count  von  Waldersee  was  sent  out  to  avenge 
his  death  he  had  to  bid  farewell  to  an  American  wife 
before  he  departed  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  an  Amer- 
ican widow. 

At  the  Hague  Conference  two  of  the  most  brilliant 
representatives  of  European  diplomacy,  Baron 
d'Estournelles,  for  a  long  time  charge  d'affaires  in 
London,  and  Baron  de  Bildt,  Swedish  minister  at 
Rome,  had  both  married  American  wives.  These  are 
just  passing  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  Lord  Duf- 
ferin's  remark. 

Nothing  could  be  more  in  the  nature  of  things  than 
that  the  young  naval  and  other  attaches  who  begin 
their  careers  at  Washington,  having  about  them  the 
glamor  of  a  distinguished  position,  and  in  many  cases 
of  titles,  should  attract  the  American  girl,  while  on  her 
side  she  wields  the  two  weapons  of  beauty  and  wealth, 
either  one  of  which  would  suffice  for  conquest. 

English  diplomatists  succumb  quite  as  frequently 
as  any  others.  It  was  noted  recently  on  the  marriage 
of  Miss  Belle  Wilson,  of  New  York,  to  the  Honorable 
Michael  Herbert,  now  British  Minister  at  the  Court 
of  Copenhagen,  that  a  Secretary  of  Legation  had  also 

3J9 


The  Influence  of  Dollars 

married  an  American  wife,  and  therein  followed  the 
example  of  his  predecessor  in  the  same  post. 

It  is  not  only  in  diplomacy  that  the  American  girl 
achieves  her  triumphs.  Diplomatists  are  few,  whereas 
men  of  title  and  of  'tnark  are  many.  Hence,  every 
year  an  increasing  number  of  American  heiresses 
marry  into  European  families.  This  tendency  is,  of 
course,  most  marked  in  Great  Britain ;  but  it  is 
noticeable  both  in  France  and  Germany.  In  course  of 
time,,  indeed,  it  is  probable  that  all  European  nations 
will  be  privileged  to  contribute  bridegrooms  who  will 
be  offered  up  as  willing  sacrifices  on  the  hymeneal 
altar  of  America. 

It  is  only  the  more  conspicuous  heiresses  who  attract 
general  attention,  and  in  some  cases  the  marriages 
have  been  anything  but  ideal.  It  has  been  a  case  of 
the  bartering  of  dollars  against  a  title,  with  a  woman 
thrown  in  as  a  kind  of  arles-penny  to  clinch  the  bargain. 
This  impression  as  to  the  mercenary  nature  of  many  of 
these  marriages  was  curiously  illustrated  a  year  or 
two  since  by  the  publication  of  a  correspondence  be- 
tween Queen  Natalie  and  the  late  King  Milan  of 
Servia. 

The  ill-mated  pair  were  discussing  the  best  way  of 
rehabilitating  the  fortunes  of  the  Obrenovitch  dynasty 
by  providing  for  the  future  of  their  son,  the  present 
king,  whose  matrimonial  adventures  with  Queen 
Draga  have  afforded  so  many  paragraphs  to  the 
gossip-mongers  of  the  Continent.  The  suggestion  in 
that  correspondence  was  that  the  young  Alexander 
had  better  be  married  to  an  American  heiress,  not  be- 
320 


The  Influence  of  Dollars 

cause  there  was  any  American  girl  of  whose  exist- 
ence they  were  aware  who  was  likely  to  be  a  suitable 
wife,  but  solely  because  the  American  wife  was  ex- 
pected to  bring  millions  as  her  dower. 

The  signing  of  the  marriage  contract  in  this  case, 
as  in  many  others,  was  merely  to  be  like  the  signing 
of  a  check,  which  empowered  the  husband  to  draw 
upon  the  banking  account  of  his  wife.  "With  all  my 
worldly  goods  I  thee  endow"  is  the  declaration  which 
in  the  English  marriage  service  is  made  by  the  man. 
It  is  because  the  American  woman  has  taken  over  that 
privilege  that  she  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
inexhaustible  financial  reserve  by  the  spendthrift 
nobles  of  the  Old  World. 

Three  centuries  ago,  adventurers  who  had  wrecked 
their  substance  at  the  gaming-table,  or  had  been  ruined 
by  the  fortune  of  war,  clapped  their  good  swords  by 
their  sides  and  sailed  the  Spanish  main  in  the  confident 
expectation  of  being  able  to  return  laden  with  the 
plunder  of  the  palace  of  Montezuma  or  of  the  gold  of 
the  Incas. 

Nowadays  the  same  kind  of  gentry  cross  the  At- 
lantic on  a  similar  errand,  but  their  methods  are  less 
heroic  than  those  of  the  olden  time.  Their  objective, 
however,  is  the  same,  and  many  times  they  are  even 
more  successful.  Heiress  after  heiress  has  been 
brought  back  in  triumph,  bearing  with  her  fortunes 
which  would  have  dazzled  Pizarro,  or  stayed  even  the 
ravenous  appetite  of  the  Elizabethan  captains  who 
seized  the  galleons  of  Spain. 

What  will  be  the  influence  of  this  continual  influx 

32* 


Revivifying  Agencies 

of  American  heiresses,  whose  millions  replenish  the 
exhausted  exchequer  of  European  nobles?  M.  Finot, 
the  acute  and  sagacious  editor  of  La  Revue,  recently 
expounded  to  me  when  I  was  in  Paris  a  theory  of  the 
influence  of  American  work  on  European  develop- 
ment, which  was  suggestive  of  much. 

M.  Finot  maintained  that  the  plutocracy  of  the  Xew 
World  would  give  the  reactionary  party  in  the  Old 
World  a  new  lease  of  life.  The  great  landed  pro- 
prietors, the  heirs  of  historic  titles,  even  some  royal 
dynasties,  were  becoming  bankrupt.  The  unchecked 
operation  of  economic  causes  in  the  Old  World,  aided 
by  the  pressure  of  American  competition,  would,  in 
the  course  of  a  generation  or  two,  have  destroyed 
feudalism  in  Europe,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  advent 
of  a  more  or  less  socialistic  republic. 

But  while  economic  laws  with  iron  teeth  are  grind- 
ing into  powder  the  remains  of  the  feudal  system  in 
Europe,  hey,  presto !  and  behold,  the  American  heiress 
descends  like  some  maleficent  fairy  to  arrest  the  proc- 
ess of  disintegration  and  decay,  and  to  give  a  new 
lease  of  power  to  the  oligarchy  which  seemed  to  be 
descending  into  its  grave. 

Old  castles  are  repaired  and  upholstered  with  the 
aid  of  American  dollars.  Mortgages  are  paid  off",  and 
great  estates  restored  to  the  possession  of  their  nom- 
inal owners.  The  plutocracy  of  the  New  World,  rein- 
forcing the  aristocracy  of  the  Old,  robs  democracy  of 
its  destined  triumph. 

This  diagnosis  of  the  situation  is  worthy  of  the 
shrewd  and  penetrating  mind  of  my  brilliant  friend, 
322 


The  Evil  of  It 

a  man  who  unites  in  his  single  person  the  genius  of 
three  races.  After  all,  it  may  be  pleaded  in  mitiga- 
tion of  the  offense  of  the  American  heiress,  that  when 
she  has  done  her  utmost,  all  her  millions  can  do  but 
little  to  restore  the  dilapidation  which  has  been 
wrought  in  the  feudal  ramparts  by  the  steady  attri- 
tion of  American  competition. 

Her  fathers  and  her  brothers,  from  their  farms  on 
the  prairie  and  their  factories  in  Chicago,  ceaselessly 
hurl  across  the  Atlantic  vast  vessels  which  are  like  pro- 
jectiles laden  with  food-stuffs,  whose  effect  upon  the 
old  order  in  the  Old  World  may  be  compared  to  so 
many  dynamite  shells.  Through  the  breaches  thus 
made  in  the  ramparts  of  reaction,  a  whole  flood  of  Amer- 
ican ideas  are  pouring  into  Europe.  To  stem  this  the 
richest  of  American  heiresses  is  powerless.  At  best 
she  can  only  rig  up  for  her  husband  a  temporary 
shelter  amid  the  ruins. 

It  was  rather  a  degradation  of  the  idea  of  American 
womanhood  to  regard  the  American  girl  as  a  means 
of  replenishing  the  exhausted  exchequer,  a  kind  of 
financial  resource,  like  the  Income  Tax.  Indeed,  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  when  there  is  no  love  in 
the  matter,  it  is  only  gilded  prostitution,  infinitely 
more  culpable  from  the  moral  point  of  view  than  the 
ordinary  vice  into  which  women  are  often  driven  by 
sheer  lack  of  bread. 

When  I  published  the  "Maiden  Tribute"  sixteen 
years  ago,  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  scoffed  at  the  idea 
that  vice  was  unpopular.  He  declared  that  it  was 
the  one  bond  of  sympathy  between  the  aristocracy  and 

323 


The  Real  American  Girl 

the  democracy;  and  this  trading  with  American  heir- 
esses for  coronets  may  from  this  point  of  view  be 
regarded  as  the  touch  of  nature  which  makes  the  whole 
world  kin. 

It  is  at  least  a  proof  of  the  persistency  of  the  spirit 
of  the  snob,  which  not  even  the  free  air  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic  is  able  to  exorcise.  What  is  bred  in 
the  bone  comes  out  in  the  flesh.  Many  Americans  in 
this  respect  bear  only  too  faithful  a  resemblance  to 
their  English  ancestors. 

It  would  be  a  monstrous  injustice  to  suggest  that 
marriage  between  titled  persons  in  the  Old  Country  and 
the  heiresses  of  the  New  World  is  never  accompanied 
by  affection  so  sincere  that  the  dollars  are  mere  un- 
considered  trifles  thrown  into  the  bargain. 

It  would  also  be  an  absurd  misapprehension  of  facts 
to  assume  that  the  only  marriages  which  take  place 
between  men  of  the  Old  World  and  women  of  the  New 
are  accompanied  by  the  transfer  of  substantial  bank 
balances  from  America  to  England.  The  American 
girl  has  no  need  of  dollars  to  render  her  attractive  to 
English  suitors.  She  is  always  bright,  vivacious  and 
intelligent,  often  beautiful,  and  not  seldom  a  very 
desirable  wife  and  mother. 

The  real  American  girl  in  her  millions  never  has  the 
opportunity  of  visiting  Europe.  We  only  see  in  the 
Old  World  a  very  small  percentage  of  American 
womanhood,  that  which  is  drawn  exclusively  from  the 
wealthier  classes.  Of  the  girls  of  the  class  represented 
by  Miss  Rebecca  Hallbom — a  Minnesota  girl  whose 
fame  is  trumpeted  in  the  American  newspapers  as  the 
324 


The  Romance  of  It 

breaker  of  all  records  as  the  milker-  of  cows — we  see 
very  little  in  Europe.  Miss  Hallbom  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, every  day  in  the  week  milks  nineteen  cows  morn- 
ing and  evening,  and  on  an  average  deprives  each  cow 
of  its  milk  in  less  than  five  minutes.  On  occasions 
she  will  milk  fifty  cows  in  a  day. 

The  attraction  which  men  of  the  Old  World  have 
for  the  women  of  the  New — for  many  more  American 
women  marry  Englishmen  than  English  women  marry 
American  men — is  not  difficult  to  explain.  There  is  a 
certain  glamor  about  the  Old  World  which  appeals  to 
the  susceptible  feminine  imagination. 

The  attraction  of  ancient  lineage,  of  ivy-clad  castles, 
and  the  associations  of  a  great  historic  name,  appeal 
irresistibly  to  many  minds.  It  is  also  true  that  Amer- 
ican men  are  as  a  rule  more  immersed  in  business  than 
men  of  a  similar  class  in  the  Old  World.  There  is 
more  leisure  here,  less  rush,  and  more  opportunity  for 
the  cultivation  of  domesticity.  And  our  interests  are 
often  more  varied,  and  the  Old  World  life  is  both 
picturesque  and  novel. 

It  is  also  asserted  (although  far  be  it  from  me  to 
express  any  opinion  on  the  subject)  that  the  lovers  of 
the  Old  World  are  more  ardent  in  their  devotion  than 
American  men,  while  others  maintain  that  the  sex 
loves  a  master,  and  that  the  deeper  instinct  of  the 
American  woman  craves  for  a  husband  who  will  be 
her  lord  and  master.  This  I  take  leave  to  doubt,  for 
the  instinct  of  domination  which  makes  the  American 
woman  mistress  both  of  her  home  and  all  that  it  con- 


325 


American  Wives  of  Englishmen 

tains,  including  her  husband,  is  as  much  in  evidence 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  on  the  other. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  four  English  statesmen 
of  Cabinet  rank  have  married  American  wives.  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  after  having  twice  married  an  English- 
woman, has  found  his  supreme  felicity  in  an  Amer- 
ican, Miss  Endicott.  Sir  William  Harcourt  married 
an  American,  so  did  Mr.  Bryce,  and  so  also  did  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill,  whose  wife,  now  Mrs.  Corn- 
wallis-West,  is  one  of  the  few  American  women  who 
have  counted  for  anything  in  English  politics.  Amer- 
ican women  on  this  side  of  the  water  are  very  seldom 
politicians,  although  some  of  them  have  married  into 
positions  where  to  exercise  a  political  influence  would 
have  been  both  easy  and  natural. 

The  Marlboroughs,  both  the  late  Duke  and  the  pres- 
ent, are  remarkable  for  havinggone  to  America  for  their 
wives.  Consuelo  Vanderbilt,  whose  millions  have 
rendered  it  possible  to  revive  some  of  the  glories  of 
Blenheim — for  without  the  American  money  it  would 
have  been  difficult  for  the  Duke  even  to  have  kept  his 
windows  glazed — will  some  day  probably  be  the  wife 
of  the  Viceroy  of  Ireland ;  while  Miss  Leiter  has  for 
some  years  past  been  Vice-Empress  of  India. 

Manchester  is  another  ducal  family  which  has  had 
two  American  Duchesses  in  succession.  But  in  neither 
case  have  they  contributed  much  to  the  social,  polit- 
ical, or  intellectual  life  of  the  Old  Country. 

On  the  Continent  there  are  many  American  women 
whose  names  figure  considerably  in  the  newspapers. 
The  most  remarkable  princess  was  Miss  Heine,  who 
326 


Marriages  are  Love  Matches 

married  the  Prince  of  Monaco.  Another  princess  of 
a  very  different  character  who  figured  much  more 
prominently  in  the  papers,  not  altogether  by  the  super- 
abundance of  her  virtues,  was  Miss  Clara  Ward  of 
Detroit,  who,  when  a  girl  of  eighteen,  married  the 
Prince  de  Chimay  and  Caraman,  a  Belgian  title,  bring- 
ing with  her  a  dowry  of  half  a  million  sterling. 

The  prince  brought  as  his  marriage  portion  a  dis- 
solute past.  When  the  corruption  of  the  Old  World 
married  the  wealth  of  the  New,  the  result  was  what 
might  have  been  anticipated.  Since  the  meteoric  and 
meretricious  splendor  of  Lola  Montez,  few  women  have 
created  more  scandal  in  the  broad  expanse  which  lies 
between  Cairo  and  London. 

Such  careers,  however,  are  a  rare  exception.  The 
American  woman  in  Europe  may  be  extravagant,  but 
she  seldom  gives  any  occasion  for  scandal.  A  writer 
in  an  American  magazine,  who  discussed  the  question 
of  transplanted  American  beauty,  says : — 

"One  thing  is  quite  certain.  No  American  girl  who 
has  married  into  European  society  wishes  to  return 
home  to  the  stay-at-home  life  of  American  women. 
Although  many  difficulties  have  beset  their  paths,  with 
few  exceptions  Anglo-American  matches  have  been 
most  happy  ones. 

"It  seems  to  be  a  woman's  crown  of  glory — in  Eng- 
land, at  least — that  she  is  American-born.  Until 
Mrs.  Lewis  Hamersley  married  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough,  no  great  fortune  had  gone  from  this  country 
into  England,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  nine  out  of  ten 
marriages  there  were  love  matches." 

327 


Some  Famous  Marriages 

The  Spanish  Princess  Eulalie,  who  visited  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair,  re- 
cently contributed  an  article  upon  the  American  girl  to 
an  American  magazine.  She  concluded  her  article  by 
the  following  cryptic %  phrase :  "When  American  girls 
go  abroad  and  marry  foreigners,  they  are  affectionate, 
not  only  in  proportion  to  the  attention  they  receive, 
but  also  by  reason  of  the  dowry  they  give." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  do  more  than  refer  in  passing 
to  some  of  the  more  famous  of  the  marriages  which 
have  introduced  an  American  strain  into  an  Old  World 
family.  The  Countess  Goblet  d'Alviella,  wife  of  the 
well-known  Count  Goblet  d'Alviella,  Liberal  leader, 
scholar,  and  senator  of  Belgium,  is  an  American.  So 
is  the  wife  of  M.  Henri  Monod,  the  Directeur  de 
1'Assistance  Publique  in  Paris. 

The  Count  Bosan  de  Perigord  and  Talleyrand,  the 
son  of  the  Princess  de  Sagan,  made  one  of  the  most 
recent  of  notable  American  marriages  when  he  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  ex-Governor  Morton. 

The  Castellane  marriage,  which  made  Jay  Gould's 
daughter  Anna  a  French  countess,  is  not  one  of  those 
unions  which  go  to  the  credit  account. 

The  sisters  Woodhall — Mrs.  Biddulph  Martin,  who 
combines  her  social  functions  with  the  editing  of  the 
Humanitarian,  and  her  sister,  Lady  Cook, — Mrs. 
Blomfield  Moore,  the  friend  of  Browning  and  the 
patroness  of  Keeley,  of  Keeley  motor  fame;  Mrs. 
Mackay,  Mrs.  Sherwood,  Mrs.  Arthur  Paget,  who  is 
one  of  the  smartest  of  our  smart  set — represent,  each 


328 


American  Absorption 

in  her  own  way,  various  conductors  of  American  influ- 
ence upon  English  and  European  life. 

But  marriage  is  not  the  only  means  by  which  so- 
ciety is  being  Americanized.  The  process  by  which 
Great  Britain  is  being  converted  into  the  family  seat 
of  the  race  is  going  on  steadily.  Every  year  one  or 
another  American  family  hires  or  buys  some  ancient 
country  seat  or  famous  mansion.  A  certain  number 
still  remain  true  to  their  Paris.  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett appears  permanently  to  have  forsaken  his  native 
land  for  the  attractions  of  the  Riviera,  and  here  and 
there  in  the  pleasant  land  of  France  may  be  found 
Americans  who,  having  made  their  pile  across  the  At- 
lantic, find  more  of  the  amenities  of  life  and  a  more 
congenial  atmosphere  in  country-seats  which  are  not 
too  far  from  the  boulevards. 

Apropos  of  the  American  absorption  of  English 
steamships,  tobacco  companies,  and  castles,  the  New 
York  Life  publishes  some  amusing  prophetic  pictures 
of  what  we  may  expect  to  see  ere  long.  The  pic- 
tures are  reproductions  of  the  familiar  photographs 
of  well-known  London  buildings  and  monuments,  with 
additions.  The  first  of  the  series  is  a  view  of  Tra- 
falgar Square,  with  a  view  of  the  Nelson  monument 
surmounted  by  a  gigantic  statue  of  Uncle  Sam. 

The  second  shows  us  Parliament  House,  underneath 
which  we  read  the  inscription :  "The  residence  of  Mr. 
John  B.  Grabb,  of  Chicago.  This  building  is  historic- 
ally interesting  as  having  been  formerly  the  seat  of  the 
British  Parliament."  The  statue  of  the  Iron  Duke 
from  Hyde  Park  Corner  is  furnished  with  the  Amer- 

329 


The  New  Plutocracy 

ican  flag,  and  labelled :  "This  statue  is  now  on  its  way 
to  Pittsburg."  There  is  a  view  of  the  Royal  Exchange 
surmounted  by  a  gigantic  bust  of  J.  P.  Morgan,  with 
the  legend  E  pluribus  unum,  and  the  corners  are  sur- 
mounted by  the  American  eagle  and  an  American 
coat  of  arms. 

We  have  not  yet  come  to  this,  but  according  to  the 
latest  bogus  story  in  the  American  newspapers,  Amer- 
ican millionaires  are  bidding  eagerly  for  the  privilege 
of  becoming  tenants  of  Osborne  House,  where  the 
Queen  died.  Senator  Clarke  of  Montana  is  said  to  have 
written  to  the  King,  asking  him  how  much  he  will 
take.  Mr.  Charles  G.  Yerkes,  of  Chicago  fame,  is  said 
to  be  also  in  the  field,  having  as  his  dangerous  com- 
petitor Mr.  W.  W.  Astor,  who  is  credited  with  a  desire 
to  present  Osborne  to  his  daughter  Pauline  on  her  ap- 
proaching marriage. 

We  have  not,  of  course,  got  quite  so  far  as  this,  but 
events  seem  to  be  going  somewhat  in  that  direction. 
The  purchase  of  Cliveden  from  the  Duke  of  West- 
minster gave  a  certain  shock  to  English  society,  for 
while  we  are  accustomed  to  the  sale,  by  impecunious 
nobles,  of  their  hereditary  possessions  to  American 
millionaires,  it  was  a  novelty  to  find  that  one  of  the 
richest  dukes  was  willing  to  sell,  provided  he  had  his 
price,  to  the  American  tempter. 

Mr.  Carnegie  snapped  up  Skibo  Castle  in  North 
Britain ;  and  one  of  his  partners,  Mr.  Phipps,  oc- 
cupies Knebworth  Castle,  which  is  famous  for  its  as- 
sociation with  Lord  Lytton.  These  are  but  illustra- 
tions of  the  way  in  which  the  new  Plutocracy  is 
330 


Americans  in  London 

nestling  itself  in  the  old  haunts  of  the  English  aris- 
tocracy. The  newcomers  have  plenty  of  money,  but 
their  expenditure,  as  a  rule,  is  not  characterized  by  a 
reckless  extravagance. 

It  somewhat  startled  the  West  End  when  an  Amer- 
ican newspaper  proprietor  rented  a  palace  here,  and 
provided  a  stud  of  thirty  horses  as  part  of  the  appurte- 
nances necessary  to  his  existence ;  but  that  was  excep- 
tional. We  have  suffered  little  from  the  vulgar  osten- 
tation of  the  wealthy  parvenu.  The  Americans  who 
have  settled  in  our  midst  have  been  educated  gentle- 
men of  means,  whose  chief  ambition  has  been  to 
merge  themselves  quietly  and  unostentatiously  in  the 
society  in  the  midst  of  which  they  have  taken  up  their 
abode. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  about  15,000  Amer- 
icans more  or  less  constantly  resident  in  London.  It 
is  a  shifting  population,  but  the  majority  are  per- 
manent. In  order  to  form  a  social  centre  for  the  fem- 
inine section  of  this  colony,  Mrs.  Hugh  Reid  Griffin, 
formerly  of  Chicago,  founded  the  Society  of  American 
Women,  which  has  as  a  badge  the  arms  of  the  City 
of  London  surmounted  by  the  American  eagle,  with 
the  Union  Jack  on  one  side,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
on  the  other.  The  society  was  framed  on  the  lines  of 
the  Sorosis  Club  of  New  York,  and  its  declared  ob- 
ject was  the  promotion  of  social  intercourse  between 
American  women. 

Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  in  the  City  is  a  name  to  con- 
jure with.  But  his  influence  is  financial,  rather  than 
social.  The  mention  of  Mr.  Morgan  recalls  the  fact 

33J 


Munificent  Philanthropy 

that  it  was  he  who  undertook  to  defray  the  whole  cost 
of  installing  the  electric  light  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
The  sum  of  £9,000  is  trivial  to  a  millionaire,  but 
somehow  or  other  the  British-born  millionaire  does  not 
seem  to  think  of  it.  '* 

And  this  leads  me  to  a  concluding  observation  as  to 
one  beneficent  side  of  American  influence  on  English 
life.  The  habit  of  giving  is  one  of  the  Americanisms 
which  have  not  yet  been  successfully  acclimatized  in 
the  Old  World.  The  first  American  to  make  a  dis- 
tinct impact  upon  the  English  conscience  by  the  force 
of  his  example  was  Mr.  Peabody,  whose  effigy  in 
bronze,  seated  in  an  armchair  in  the  midst  of  "stream- 
ing London's  central  roar,"  is  a  much  less  valuable 
memorial  than  the  continued  usefulness  of  the  Pea- 
body  Trust  and  all  the  other  trusts  for  rehousing  the 
poorer  classes  of  our  great  cities,  which  have  sprung 
into  existence  as  the  result  of  his  initiative. 

But  no  one  has  preached  the  gospel  of  wealth  so 
vigorously  and  has  begun  to  practice  it  of  late  years 
so  munificently  as  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie.  He  is  at 
present  engaged  in  a  valiant  but  wholly  unsuccessful 
effort  to  escape  the  malediction  which  falls  upon  those 
who  die  rich. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  probably 
no  one  has  ever  given  away  in  a  single  year  as  much 
money  as  Mr.  Carnegie  distributed  in  the  last  twelve 
months.  According  to  a  list  published  on  his  return 
to  New  York  last  November,  he  succeeded  last  year  in 
distributing  eight  millions  sterling  in  various  quarters. 
One-fourth  of  this  sum  is  represented  by  the  two  mil- 
332 


Beneficent  Example 

lions  with  which  he  endowed  the  Scottish  universities ; 
one  million  went  to  the  libraries  of  New  York  City ; 
more  than  one  and  a  half  millions  went  to  the  Carnegie 
Institute  in  Pittsburg ;  and  £800,000  to  a  pension  fund 
for  his  workmen  in  the  same  city. 

Miscellaneous  gifts  in  the  United  States  represent 
£850,000,  and  the  rest  of  the  money  appears  to  have 
been  distributed  for  the  most  part  in  the  endowment 
of  libraries  in  Scotland  and  in  the  United  States. 

The  widow's  mite  which  she  cast  into  the  Treasury 
will  no  doubt  outweigh  all  the  benefactions  of  the  mil- 
lionaires. But  although  it  is  not  given  to  Mr.  Car- 
negie to  break  the  record  of  that  widow,  we  may  at 
least  point  to  his  example  as  one  which  we  should  be 
glad  to  see  British-born  millionaires  attempt  to 
imitate. 


333 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fifth 

Sport 

No  one  who  remembers  the  important  part  which 
the  Isthmian  Games  played  in  ancient  Greece  will  be 
disposed  to  deny  the  political  importance  of  athletics 
and  of  sport  generally  as  a  means  of  promoting  a 
sense  of  unity  among  the  English-speaking  peoples 
of  the  world.  Among  the  millions  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  cricket  did  more  to  make  Australia  and  the 
Australians  living  realities  than  all  the  geographies 
and  all  the  political  discussions  which  have  taken 
place  over  the  Federation  of  the  Australian  Common- 
wealth. 

It  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  contests,  whether  on 
the  turf,  the  cricket  field,  or  on  the  water,  that  de- 
feat is  as  potent  as  victory  in  creating  interest  and 
promoting  a  sense  of  comradeship.  The  brother- 
hood of  the  Turf  may  not  be  the  highest  of  brother- 
hoods, but  it  has  been  for  many  generations  a  very 
real  fraternity  which  has  done  a  good  deal  in  England 
towards  bridging  the  chasm  between  the  classes  and 
providing  a  democratic  meeting  place  in  which  dukes 
334 


The  Yacht  Races 

and  bookmakers,  jockeys  and  millionaires  could  meet, 
if  not  exactly  on  an  equal  footing,  at  least  upon  com- 
mon ground. 

Sports  which  twenty  years  ago  were  almost  ex- 
clusively national  have  now  become  international,  and 
every  year  increases  the  number  of  events  in  which  the 
primary  interest  of  sport  is  reinforced  by  national 
rivalry. 

The  most  conspicuous  contest  of  1901  was  the  stoutly 
contested  struggle  made  by  Sir  Thomas  Lipton's 
yacht  Shamrock  II.  to  win  the  America  Cup.  To  the 
eyes  of  the  philosophic  moralist  there  was  a  dangerous 
resemblance  between  the  popular  interest  in  the  Cup 
races  off  Sandy  Hook  and  the  popular  interest  of  the 
Byzantines  in  the  races  between  blue  and  green  chariot- 
eers in  the  circus. 

For  a  fortnight  the  progress  of  the  campaign  in 
South  Africa  upon  which,  we  are  told,  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  Empire  depends,  was  completely  obscured 
by  the  latest  telegrams  describing  the  varying  fortunes 
of  the  competitors  for  the  Cup.  In  this  great  inter- 
national yacht  race  we  have  been  beaten  decisively. 
Eleven  times  the  British  have  attempted  to  lift  the 
America  Cup,  and  eleven  times  have  they  failed.  We 
were  beaten  on  our  merits. 

The  Americans  have  built  better  yachts,  and  the 
better  yacht  has  won.  Sir  Thomas  Lipton  has  appar- 
ently not  yet  made  up  his  mind  whether  he  will  make 
a  third  attempt  in  1903,  but  if  he  fails  no  one  else 
seems  disposed  to  renew  the  challenge.  It  is  not  with- 
out significance  that  but  for  Sir  Thomas  Lipton,  who 

335 


Of  Sculling 

is  a  partially  Americanized  Irishman,  no  attempt  would 
have  been  made  to  dispute  the  primacy  of  America. 
On  the  two  previous  occasions  the  challenger  was 
Lord  Dunraven,  who  is  also  an  Irishman,  while  all 
our  best  yachts  are  built  in  Scotland.  England,  except 
for  sail-making,  would  appear  to  have  definitely  quitted 
the  field. 

Possibly  if  the  America  Cup  is  to  leave  the  United 
States  it  may  be  carried  off  by  the  Canadians  or  by 
the  Australians,  although  the  latter  have  as  yet  shown 
no  disposition  to  enter  the  lists.  But  whatever  be 
the  result,  it  is  admitted  that  in  the  designing  of 
yachts  the  Americans  have  led  the  way  ever  since  they 
carried  off  the  famous  Cup  in  a  struggle  with  rivals 
around  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

It  was  they  who  made  the  centre-board  and  the 
"skimming  dish"  the  potent  factors  which  they  are 
to-day,  and  though  there  has  been  a  tendency  of  late 
years  to  modify  these  extreme  types,  the  American 
racing  machine  has  permanently  modified  for  good  or 
evil  the  yacht  construction  of  the  whole  world. 

The  only  other  form  of  aquatic  sport  in  which  the 
general  public  take  a  keen  interest  is  that  of  pair- 
oar  sculling,  leaving  on  one  side  the  University  eight- 
oar  matches.  The  single  sculling  championship  of 
the  world  was  wrested  from  Great  Britain  when  E.  H. 
Ten  Eyck,  of  Worcester,  defeated  Blackburne,  and 
carried  off  the  championship  across  the  Atlantic. 
Difficulties  were  raised  about  his  rowing  at  Henley, 
and  this  year,  after  having  in  vain  challenged  any  one 
to  contest  his  claim  at  the  National  Regatta  on  the 
Schuylkill,  he  retired  on  his  laurels. 
336 


Invasion  of  the  British  Turf 

When  we  come  to  eight-oar  racing,  the  English  Uni- 
versities have  retained  the  lead,  but  there  is  no  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  Yale  or  Harvard  to  acquiesce 
in  their  supremacy.  Recently  there  was  an  ugly 
moment  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  stewards  at  Henley 
would  bar  foreign  competitors  from  the  Henley 
course.  That  proposal,  which  would  have  been  re- 
garded as  a  practical  admission  that  we  dared  not 
face  our  international  competitors,  was  fortunately 
rejected. 

After  aquatics  the  sport  which  excites  the  greatest 
interest  is  the  Turf.  The  year  1901  was  famous  in 
the  annals  of  the  British  Turf  by  the  fact  that  for  the 
first  time  in  our  history  both  the  great  classic  races, 
the  Derby  and  the  Oaks,  were  won  by  Americans. 
Volodyovski  was  bred  by  Lady  Meux,  and  was  only 
leased  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Whitney,  the  American,  under 
whose  colors  it  was  run.  But  he  was  trained  by  an 
American,  Mr.  Huggins,  and  ridden  by  the  American 
jockey,  Lester  Reiff. 

Mr.  Whitney  also  established  a  record  by  handing 
over  the  Derby  stakes  to  charity.  The  Oaks  was, 
however,  a  more  genuine  American  victory  than  the 
Derby,  for  Cap  and  Bells  II.  was  bred  in  the  United 
States,  owned  by  Mr.  Foxhall  Keene,  and  ridden  by 
Martin  Henry,  the  American  jockey.  The  filly  was, 
however,  trained  by  an  Englishman. 

The  American  invasion  of  the  British  Turf  is  no  new 
thing.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago,  Mr.  Ten  Broeck 
brought  over  Lexington  and  her  stable  companion 
Priorus,  who  won  the  Cesarewitch  after  a  dead  heat. 

337 


The  American  Jockey 

Mr.  Whitney,  who  won  the  Derby  this  year,  and 
threatened  to  leave  the  English  turf  as  the  result  of 
the  sentence  upon  Lester  Reiff  by  the  Jockey  Club, 
only  began  racing  in  England  in  1899.  The  most 
notable  American  Qn  the  English  turf  is  Mr.  Richard 
Croker,  who  has  established  himself  at  Wantage,  and 
finds  the  English  racecourse  his  most  delightful  tonic. 

Newmarket  for  1901  closed  in  a  blaze  of  triumph 
for  the  Americans.  Of  the  five  leading  events,  includ- 
ing the  Cambridgeshire,  only  one  was  won  by  a  horse 
in  which  Americans  were  not  directly  interested.  Two 
of  the  five  chief  winners  were  bred  in  America ;  three 
of  the  winners  were  trained  by  an  American,  and  four 
were  ridden  by  American  jockeys. 

The  American  owner  is,  however,  of  less  importance 
to  the  mass  of  the  public  than  the  American  jockey, 
whose  style  of  riding  first  startled  and  then  dazzled 
his  English  competitors.  The  American  jockey  sits 
upon  the  shoulders  of  his  horse,  almost  on  the  neck, 
a  method  of  horsemanship  which  in  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Croker  is  equivalent  to  a  reduction  of  the  riding 
weight  to  the  extent  of  half  a  stone.  Sloan  and  the 
two  Reiffs  found  little  difficulty  in  taking  a  first  place 
among  the  winning  jockeys  of  the  last  two  or  three 
years. 

Unfortunately  the  brilliance  of  their  success  has  been 
somewhat  marred  by  the  censure  passed  upon  Sloan 
and  Lester  Reiff  by  the  Jockey  Club.  The  verdict 
upon  Reiff  was  confined  solely  to  one  race  at  Man- 
chester, in  which  he  was  accused  of  not  having  done 
his  best  to  win.  Sloan  in  1899  is  said  to  have  received 
£15,000  as  his  riding  fees,  and  to  have  won  as  much 
338 


Horse  and  Trainer 

more  in  wagers.  Mr.  Huggins,  who  came  over  with 
Mr.  Lorillard,  was  reputed  to  have  received  a  salary 
of  £10,000  a  year,  plus  a  percentage  on  the  winnings  of 
the  stable. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  discussion  as  to  the 
secret  of  the  success  of  American  and  American 
trained  horses  upon  the  English  turf.  One  theory 
which  finds  much  favor  among  American  authorities 
is  that  the  American  horse  wins  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  American  citizen  is  more  energetic  than  his 
English  rivals.  Transatlantic  breeders  do  not  breed 
in  and  in  like  those  of  England,  and  they  have  im- 
ported steadily  for  years  past  the  very  best  blood  of 
England,  France  and  Australia.  They  hold  that  the 
practice  of  in-breeding  tends  to  make  the  English  horse 
unduly  nervous. 

In  leaping  the  American  horse  holds  the  record. 
Heatherbloom,  last  November  at  New  York,  cleared 
with  ease  a  barrier  7  ft.  4  ins.  high.  He  was  given  a 
sixty  yards  run.  In  private  practice  the  week  before 
he  is  said  to  have  jumped  7  ft.  8  ins. 

Of  the  success  of  the  American  trainer  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  Again  and  again  an  American  trainer  has 
taken  a  horse  which  was  regarded  as  altogether  out  of 
the  running,  and  has  sent  him  to  the  post  in  such  a  con- 
dition that  he  has  won  stake  after  stake.  For  instance, 
Wishard,  who  turned  out  more  winners  in  the  racing 
season  of  1900  than  any  other  American,  bought  Royal 
Flush  for  400  guineas,  trained  him  for  an  American, 
Mr.  Drake;  put  an  American  jockey,  J.  Reiff,  upon 
his  back,  and  carried  off  first  the  Royal  Hunt  Cup, 
and  then  the  Steward's  Cup  at  Goodwood. 

339 


Other  Sports 

He  afterwards  won  several  plates  and  handicaps, 
and  was  sold  at  the  end  of  the  season  for  1,250  guineas. 
It  is  the  brains  of  the  man  rather  than  the  breeding 
of  the  horse  which  enables  him  to  gain  the  victory.  In 
one  department  of  racing  the  Americans  have  the  field 
entirely  to  themselves.  No  attempt  has  ever  been 
made  in  the  United  Kingdom  to  rival  the  fast  trotters  of 
the  United  States.  At  present  Cresceus  is  the  cham- 
pion trotter  of  the  world,  having  broken  all  records  this 
year  by  covering  the  mile  in  two  minutes  and  two  and 
a  quarter  seconds. 

Polo  is  also  taking  its  place  among  international 
events.  In  1900,  American  and  English  teams  com- 
peted at  Hurlingham,  the  Americans  being  beaten  by 
eight  goals  to  two. 

In  athletic  sports,  strictly  so  called,  the  contests  be- 
tween the  two  nations  are  kept  up  very  briskly,  al- 
though the  balance  even  here  inclines  to  the  United 
States.  In  most  quick  races  in  which  everything  de- 
pends upon  the  rapidity  with  which  the  runner  can 
obtain  a  maximum  speed,  the  Americans  beat  the  more 
phlegmatic  Englishman.  When  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge sent  their  best  men  to  the  United  States  this 
autumn,  the  English  won  the  half-mile  and  the  mile 
and  the  two  miles,  all  these  races  being  carried  off  by 
Cambridge  men.  The  Americans  won  the  hundred 
yards  and  the  quarter  mile. 

They  were  also  victorious  in  hammer  throwing,  the 

high    jump,   the   broad   jump,    and    120   yards    over 

hurdles.     In  1900,  when  the  Americans  came  over  to 

Stamford  Bridge,  they  carried  off  the  prizes  for  the 

340 


Almost  Eclipsed 

100  yards  and  %  mile  races.  They  were  also  vic- 
torious in  putting  the  weight,  the  high  jump,  throwing 
the  hammer,  the  long  jump,  and  the  hurdle  race. 

The  Americans  have  beaten  us  in  cycling.  In  box- 
ing the  Americans  have  had  it  their  own  way.  The 
championship  of  the  world  in  the  prize  ring  has  gone 
to  the  United  States,  and  is  likely  to  remain  there. 
This,  which  was  at  one  time  the  distinctive  sport  of 
Great  Britain,  is  now  practically  abandoned  to  the 
Americans.  In  golf,  which  the  Americans  have  taken 
up  keenly  of  late  years,  we  may  expect  to  find  a  keen 
struggle  for  the  championship.  Last  year  Miss  Gene- 
vieve  Hecker  of  Connecticut  won  the  American 
Woman's  Championship,  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 

Hitherto  the  Americans  have  not  done  much  in 
cricket,  but  encouraged  by  the  success  with  which  they 
defeated  a  second  rate  English  eleven  they  are  now 
preparing  to  enter  the  field  against  us  on  our  own 
ground. 

It  is  not  without  significance  that  the  international 
Olympian  games,  which  were  revived  at  the  close  of 
the  nineteenth  century  by  a  committee,  of  which 
Baron  de  Coubertin  is  the  chairman,  should  hold  their 
next  meeting  in  Chicago.  Their  first  was  held  at 
Athens.  This  international  athletic  contest  will  last 
for  a  month  to  six  weeks,  and  will  be  held  in  September, 
1904.  The  United  States  Legations  and  Consuls 
throughout  Europe  will  probably  act  as  agents  for 
distributing  information  and  advertising  this  fixture, 
so  as  to  give  it  the  importance  of  a  great  world-wide 
fete. 

34J 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Sixth 

"The  American  Invasion" 

IT  was  not  till  the  close  of  last  century  that  the 
United  States  could  be  said  to  have  secured  the  com- 
mercial primacy  of  the  world.*  But  the  fact  that  they 
would  supersede  us  had  long  been  foreseen  by  the  more 
prescient  amongst  us.  Conspicuous  among  these  was 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  in  1878  and  again  in  1890  ex- 
pressed in  the  clearest  terms  his  conviction  both  as  to 
the  inevitableness  of  the  change,  and  also,  what  was 
more  important,  his  view  as  to  the  way  in  which  it 
should  be  regarded  by  this  country : — 

"It  is  America,"  he  said,  "who  at  a  given  time  and  prob- 
ably will  wrest  from  us  that  commercial  primacy.  We  have 
no  title :  I  have  no  inclination  to  murmur  at  the  prospect. 
If  she  acquires  it,  she  will  make  the  acquisition  by  the  right 

*  The  following  figures  condense  into  a  nutshell  the  story 
of  the  last  thirty  years'  material  progress  of  the  United  States. 

[In  millions.] 
Products.  1870.        1880.        1890.          1900. 

Wheat  (bu.)   287.7        459-4        309.2          522.2 

Corn    (bu.) 760.9      1754.8      1489.9        2105.1 

Cotton  (bales)    3.1  5.7  7.3  9-4 

Wool    (Ibs.)    162.0        232.5        276.0         288.6 

Petroleum   (gals.,   1877)-.      383-5        836.3      1476.8        2306.9 
Bit.  coal   (tons,  1876) 28.9         38.2         99.3          172.6 

342 


Gladstone's  Prophecy 

of  the  strongest;  but  in  this  instance  the  strongest  means 
the  best.  She  will  probably  become  what  we  are  now — head 
servant  in  the  great  household  of  the  world,  the  employer 
of  all  employed,  because  her  service  will  be  the  most  and 
ablest.  We  have  no  more  title  against  her  than  Venice,  or 
Genoa,  or  Holland  has  against  us." 

The  moral  which  he  drew  from  the  certainty  of 
our  relegation  to  a  secondary  position  was  one  to  which 
unfortunately  we  have  given  but  little  heed.  Mr. 
Gladstone  in  1878,  as  previously  in  1866,  implored  his 
countrymen  to  recognize  the  great  duty  of  preparing 
"by  a  resolute  and  sturdy  effort  to  reduce  our  public 
burdens  in  preparation  for  a  day  when  we  shall  prob- 
ably have  less  capacity  than  we  have  now  to  bear 
them." 

In  1866,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  first  uttered  his  mem- 
orable warning  as  to  our  prospective  loss  of  com- 
mercial primacy,  our  national  expenditure  amounted 
to  £66,000,000.  Thirty-four  years  afterwards  the  ex- 
tent of  our  response  to  his  appeal  for  "a  sturdy  and 
resolute  effort"  may  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  our 
expenditure  for  1900-1  amounted  to  £183,592,000 
sterling,  and  we  are  still  engaged  in  a  war  which  will 
indefinitely  increase  the  weight  of  the  burdens  which 
we  shall  have  to  bear  in  future. 

As  to  the  fact  that  we  could  not  possibly  hope  to 
hold  our  own  against  the  United  States,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  no  doubt  whatever.  He  said : — 

"While  we  have  been  advancing  with  portentous  rapidity, 
America  is  passing  us  by  as  if  in  a  canter.  There  can  hardly 
be  a  doubt,  as  between  America  and  England,  of  the  belief 
that  the  daughter  at  no  very  distant  time  (it  was  written  in 
1878)  will,  whether  fairer  or  less  fair,  be  unquestionably 
yet  stronger  than  the  mother." 

343 


Topsy-Turvy  Business  Methods 

The  process,  inevitable  in  any  case,  would,  he 
thought,  be  accelerated  if  the  Americans  adopted  Free 
Trade. 

"If  America,"  he  wrote  in  1890,  "shall  frankly  adopt  and 
steadily  maintain  a  system  of  Free  Trade,  she  will  by  degrees, 
perhaps  not  slow  degrees,  outstrip  us  in  the  race,  and  will 
probably  take  the  place  which  at  present  belongs  to  us;  but 
she  will  not  injure  us  by  the  operation.  On  the  contrary, 
she  will  do  us  good.  Her  freedom  of  trade  will  add  to  our 
present  commerce  and  our  present  wealth,  so  that  we  shall 
be  better  than  we  are  now." 

A  remark  which  is  hardly  consistent  with  his  previ- 
ous warning  as  to  the  necessity  for  our  reducing  our 
probable  burdens  on  the  ground  that  our  capacity  to 
bear  them  would  be  not  greater,  but  less  than  it  is 
now. 

Few  things  are  more  topsy-turvy  than  the  popular 
notions  concerning  trade.  Convictions  which  are 
most  firmly  held  by  millions  of  people  are  demonstrably 
false,  but  they  influence  legislation,  they  dictate  pol- 
itics, and  they  dominate  public  opinion.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  balance  of  trade.  It  is  admitted  that  all 
trade  is  barter,  and  that  no  nation  will  part  with  its 
goods  to  another  nation  without  receiving  a  corre- 
sponding equivalent. 

If  two  persons  are  doing  business  with  one  another, 
and  Mr.  Jones  sends  fi,ooo  worth  of  wool  to  Mr. 
Smith,  he  expects  to  receive  back  goods  of  equal  value. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  instead  of  receiving  say  coal  to 
the  value  of  £  1,000  in  exchange  for  the  £1,000  worth  of 
wool  he  receives  coal  only  to  the  value  of  £750,  every 
one  would  admit,  and  Mr.  Jones  first  of  all,  that  he 
was  £250  to  the  bad.  He  sent  out  goods  worth  £  1,000, 
344 


A  Paradox 

and  only  received  in  return  commodities  to  the  value 
of  £250. 

What  can  be  more  obvious?  But  the  moment  you 
substitute  for  Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Smith  two  nations, 
and  you  raise  the  value  from  a  thousand  to  a  hundred 
millions,  people  believe  and  assert  that  it  is  an  advan- 
tage to  export  a  hundred  millions'  worth  of  goods  and 
receive  only  seventy-five  millions'  worth  in  exchange. 
If  any  man  went  on  trading,  giving  £1,000  worth  of 
wool  for  £750  of  coal,  every  one  admits  that  he  would 
go  straight  to  the  Bankruptcy  Court;  but  if  a  nation 
sends  out  a  hundred  millions'  worth  of  exports  and 
only  receives  in  exchange  seventy-five  millions,  the  na- 
tion whose  imports  are  25  per  cent,  less  than  her  ex- 
ports declares  that  the  balance  of  trade  is  in  her  favor 
to  the  extent  of  twenty-five  millions  a  year! 

Political  economists  have  repeatedly  and  labori- 
ously explained  that  the  excess  of  exports  is  a  balance 
against  the  exporting  nation,  but  nothing  seems  to  be 
able  to  shake  the  inveterate  delusion  that  a  nation 
which  exports  more  than  it  imports  makes  a  profit  to 
the  extent  of  the  difference. 

That  is  one  paradox.  Another  which  is  at  present 
even  more  widely  diffused  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
is  that  a  nation  is  injured  when  it  is  able  to  buy  the 
goods  that  it  requires  more  cheaply  from  another  na- 
tion than  they  could  be  produced  at  home.  Take,  for 
instance,  this  question  of  the  so-called  American  "inva- 
sion." It  is  obvious  that  there  would  be  no  foothold 
for  the  American  invader  in  this  country  if  he  were 
not  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  country. 

345 


Why  the  Invasion  Succeeds 

The  American  invasion  succeeds  because  the  Amer- 
ican invaders  are  able  to  give  the  British  purchaser 
either  better  or  cheaper  goods,  so  that  he  gets  more 
value  for  his  money  thaji  he  would  get  by  trading  with 
any  one  else.  If  the  American  invasion  was  a  bad 
thing  for  us,  we  could  only  be  compelled  to  take  Amer- 
ican goods  by  compulsion  exercised  either  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  or  in  some  other  way.  The  very  re- 
verse is  the  fact.  The  American  invasion  prospers 
because  Englishmen  and  Europeans  find  it  more  to 
their  personal  interest  and  individual  profit  to  deal  with 
Americans  rather  than  to  deal  with  their  own  country- 
men. 

The  presence  of  the  American  invaders  in  our 
midst  is  resented  as  if  it  were  an  outrage  on  inter- 
national amity,  as  if  the  Americans  bearing  gifts  in 
their  hands  were  bent  upon  doing  us  the  greatest  pos- 
sible injury.  It  is,  of  course,  perfectly  true  that  the 
manufacturer  who  produces  dearer  goods  finds  the 
presence  of  the  American  competitor  who  supplies 
cheaper  goods  or  better  goods  very  inconvenient ;  and, 
unless  he  can  compete  on  equal  terms,  he  will  go  to  the 
wall.  But  if  he  goes  to  the  wall,  he  goes  there  by  the 
very  choice  of  the  people  of  this  country,  each  one  of 
whom,  when  he  has  sixpence  to  spend,  is  as  absolute  as 
any  Tsar  or  Kaiser  as  to  the  way  in  which  he  will  dis- 
pose of  that  particular  coin  of  the  realm  which  he  has 
in  his  pocket  when  he  goes  out  to  shop. 

It  is  the  more  extraordinary  that  this  doctrine  should 
have  obtained  so  much  hold  among  Englishmen,  of  all 
people  in  the  world.  Although  to-day  we  are  all  tal"k- 
346 


Following  the  Lead 

ing  of  the  American  invasion,  for  the  last  hundred 
years  it  has  been  the  peculiar  glory  of  Englishmen 
that  they  have  invaded  victoriously  all  the  neutral 
markets  of  the  world,  and  that  they  have  supplied 
cheaper  goods  and  better  goods  to  the  inhabitants  of 
every  continent.  It  is  obvious  that  what  for  a  hun- 
dred years  has  been  an  exploit  justifying  us  in  ac- 
claiming ourselves  as  the  benefactors  of  humanity  can- 
not become  a  cause  of  complaint  when  the  people  who 
are  conferring  this  benefit  happen  not  to  be  domiciled 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  but  are  English-speaking  men 
who  are  domiciled  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  outcry  which  has  been  made  against  American 
competition,  which  may  be  excused  in  all  protectionist 
countries,  is  singularly  out  of  place  in  the  mouths  of 
the  great  free-trading  nation  which,  for  fifty  years  past, 
has  proclaimed  aloud  in  the  hearing  of  all  mankind 
the  supreme  duty  of  buying  in  the  cheapest  market  and 
selling  in  the  dearest.  The  Americans  are  only  doing 
to-day  what  we  have  to  the  uttermost  of  our  ability 
been  endeavoring  to  do  ever  since  they  came  into 
existence,  and  unless  the  recognized  principles  of 
political  economy  upon  which  we  have  acted  since  the 
days  of  Peel  and  Gladstone  are  exploded  heresies,  the 
presence  of  these  invaders  in  our  midst  is  not  an  evil 
but  a  blessing,  however  much  for  the  moment  it  may  ^e 
disguised. 

It  is  therefore  in  no  unfriendly  spirit  that  we  direct 
our  attention  to  what,  for  convenience'  sake,  we  con- 
tinue to  call  the  American  invasion.  Let  us  see,  in  the 
first  place,  with  what  weapons  these  invaders  from  the 

347 


Britain  the  Debtor 

New  World  are  able  to  possess  themselves  of  markets 
which  we  have  hitherto  regarded  as  our  own.  The 
first  and  by  far  the  greatest  weapon  by  which  the 
Americans  have  made  the  economic  conquest  of  the  Old 
World  is  in  the  supply  of  foodstuffs. 

The  old  saying  that  it  is  ill  to  look  a  gift  horse  in 
the  mouth  surely  should  be  borne  in  mind  by  those 
who  are  fed  from  day  to  day  by  the  produce  of  Amer- 
ican wheatfields  and  the  slaughter-yards  of  Chicago. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Russian  Empire  and  Hun- 
gary, there  is  hardly  a  country  in  Europe  which  is 
capable  of  feeding  its  own  population  with  the  prod- 
ucts of  its  own  fields.  Lancashire  has  boasted  and 
still  boasts  of  its  achievement  in  clothing  the  naked, 
but  man  needs  to  fill  his  stomach  even  before  he  covers 
his  body,  and  the  feeding  of  the  hungry  takes  pre- 
cedence as  an  act  of  charity  of  the  clothing  of  the 
naked. 

The  ingenuity  of  American  mechanism,  and  the  skill 
of  American  engineers,  have  been  employed  for  a 
generation  past  in  reducing  the  bread-bill  of  the  British 
working  man.  Incidentally  this  has  brought  in  its 
wake  agricultural  depression  among  a  minority  of 
our  people,  but  the  immense  majority  have  fed  and 
grown  fat  upon  American  harvests  and  the  beef  and 
pork  of  American  farms.  If  it  is  an  evil  thing  to 
have  cheap  bread,  then  the  Americans  were  undoubt- 
edly doing  us  an  injury. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  very  existence  of  our 
manufactures  and  our  capacity  to  command  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world  depends  absolutely  upon  cheap  food, 
348 


A  Spoon-Fed  People 

then  the  Americans  have  been  of  all  people  our  great- 
est benefactors.  Imagine,  for  instance,  if  some  great 
speculator  were  able  to  effect  such  a  corner  in  Amer- 
ican foodstuffs  as  to  absolutely  forbid  the  importation 
of  a  single  carcase  or  a  single  cargo  of  grain,  where 
should  we  be  ?  We  should  be  face  to  face  with  famine, 
and  the  whole  forty  millions  of  us  would  be  alternately 
filling  the  air  with  execrations  against  the  speculator 
who  had  cut  off  our  supply  of  food  from  the  United 
States,  or  imploring  him  for  the  love  of  God  to  relax 
his  interdict,  and  allow  our  people  once  more  to  profit 
by  drawing  supplies  from  the  American  store. 

It  may  be  replied  that  if  American  supplies  were  cut 
off,  there  would  be  a  great  revival  of  agricultural  pros- 
perity in  this  country;  but  if  the  price  of  the  quartern 
loaf  were  doubled  and  quadrupled,  we  should  not  be 
able  to  supply  sufficient  food  to  feed  our  population. 
We  are  absolutely  spoon-fed  from  day  to  day  by  the 
Americans. 

Possibly,  in  time  to  come,  from  India,  from 
Australia,  and  from  Canada,  we  may  hope  to  render 
ourselves  independent  of  American  produce;  but  that 
would  be  no  benefit  to  the  British  farmer,  and  we 
should  have  to  wait  many  a  year  before  we  could  se- 
cure from  our  fellow-subjects  the  supplies  which  we 
need  from  day  to  day. 

After  food,  the  second  great  article  by  which  the 
Americans  have  invaded  our  markets  is  raw  material, 
notably  cotton.  It  is  not  yet  forty  years  since  Lan- 
cashire was  reduced  to  the  verge  of  starvation  by  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  America  which  deprived 

349 


American  Benefactions 

it  of  the  raw  material  of  its  staple  industry.  There 
we  had  actual  experience  of  the  stoppage  of  American 
supplies,  an  experience  the  like  of  which  no  one  who 
lived  through  the  Lancashire  cotton  famine  wishes  to 
repeat. 

If  we  eliminate  all  food-products  and  all  raw  ma- 
terials from  American  exports,  we  have  accounted  for 
a  bulk  sufficient,  and  more  than  sufficient,  to  pay  for 
all  our  exports  to  the  United  States.  The  cry  of 
alarm  which  has  been  raised  has  been  produced  by 
neither  of  the  two  great  staples  of  American  exports, 
but  by  the  appearance  among  us  of  American  manu- 
factured goods.  But  even  here  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  American  goods  are  such  as  we  are  either 
unable,  or  have  not  yet  equipped  ourselves  sufficiently 
to  provide. 

The  Americans  have  brought  to  us  a  host  of  in- 
genious inventions  and  admirably  perfected  machines 
which  we  are  incapable  of  producing  for  ourselves. 
No  one  can  say  that  in  sending  us  the  typewriter,  the 
sewing-machine,  the  Linotype,  the  automobile,  the 
phonograph,  the  telephone,  the  elevator,  and  the  in- 
candescent electric  light,  they  invaded  any  British 
industry.  These  things  were  their  inventions.  After 
they  were  introduced,  we  imitated  some  of  them  or 
invented  others  on  the  same  principle,  but  they  first 
opened  up  the  new  fields.  They  were  as  much  bene- 
factors to  us  in  this  respect  as  the  missionary  who  in- 
troduces ploughs  to  a  savage  tribe  which  never  used 
anything  but  the  spade  and  hoe. 

That  each  and  all  these  inventions  were  benefits  to 
350 


Laggards  in  Trade 

us  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  we  have  bought  them 
eagerly,  and  continue  to  buy  them.  Several  of  our 
manufacturers  who  have  been  taught  by  Americans 
how  to  make  these  things,  yet  cry  out  that  they  are 
being  invaded  and  ruined  by  American  competition, 
whereas  but  for  the  Americans  these  appliances  would 
never  have  been  in  demand  in  this  country. 

It  is  not  until  we  come  to  the  fourth  category  of 
American  imports  that  we  come  upon  ground  in  which 
there  is  a  semblance  of  justification  for  the  complaint 
that  our  manufacturers  or  our  workmen  are  injured 
by  American  competition.  This  covers  the  wide  field 
in  which  our  people  have  failed  to  produce  articles 
comparable  in  excellence  to  those  which  the  Americans 
have  offered  us. 

Conspicuous  in  this  category  are  printing-machines, 
in  which  the  American  firm  of  Hoe  introduced  a  stand- 
ard of  excellence  which  immeasurably  out-distances 
the  machines  with  which  our  fathers  did  their  print- 
ing. After  printing-machines  come  the  whole  range 
of  machinery  and  appliances  necessary  for  the  utili- 
zation of  electricity. 

In  this  respect  we  have  lagged  so  far  behind  the 
Americans  that  our  manufacturers  simply  could  not 
supply  the  apparatus  necessary  for  harnessing  elec- 
tricity to  the  service  of  modern  industry. 

The  Americans  have  done  with  electricity  what  the 
British  did  with  steam  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century. 

We  were  the  first  to  realize  the  incalculable  develop- 
ment that  was  latent  in  the  invention  of  Bolton  and 

35J 


The  Proof  of  the  Pudding 

Watt.  We  got  in  ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
we  profited  accordingly.  All  the  nations  came  to  us 
for  steam-engines,  just  as  we  are  going  to  the  United 
States  for  dynamos  .and  all  the  elaborate,  ingenious 
and  costly  apparatus  necessary  for  working  electric 
trolleys,  "Twopenny  Tubes,"  and  so  forth.  Here  no 
fair-minded  man  can  say  that  we  have  any  reason  to 
complain. 

It  is  the  early  bird  that  catches  the  worm,  and  if  we 
did  not  wake  up  to  the  immense  potentiality  of  elec- 
tricity, electric  motors,  electric  power  machines,  and 
electric  traction,  that  is  our  fault,  and  we  have  no  one 
to  blame  but  ourselves.  We  want  these  things.  We 
want  them  now.  We  cannot  afford  to  wait  until  our 
neighbors  in  the  next  street  wake  up  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  fact  that  fortunes  are  to  be  made  in  the 
supply  of  electrical  apparatus.  Therefore  we  go  to 
our  kinsmen  across  the  sea.  That  they  are  willing  and 
ready  to  supply  us  is  a  thing  we  should  be  grateful 
for.  As  a  matter  of  fact  as  individuals  we  are  thank- 
ful to  them,  the  best  proof  of  which  is  that  we  are  will- 
ing to  pay  them  millions  of  money  for  the  privilege  of 
being  supplied  with  the  machines  which  we  want. 

As  it  is  with  the  appliances  necessary  for  the  util- 
ization of  electricity,  so  it  is  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
with  what  may  be  described  as  tools  of  precision  neces- 
sary for  turning  out  the  exact  work  needed  in  the  mod- 
ern engineering  industry.  Fifteen  years  ago  Sir 
Hiram  Maxim  complained  bitterly  to  me  of  the  fact 
that  when  he  came  over  to  this  country  to  manufac- 
ture Maxim  guns,  he  found  it  impossible  to  buy  in  all 
352 


American  Exports 

Britain  the  tools  which  he  needed.  The  old  tools, 
compared  to  what  he  needed,  were  as  the  flint  tools  of 
our  early  ancestors  to  a  steel  knife. 

The  perfect  tool  represents  an  advance  in  civiliza- 
tion. The  clumsy  and  ineffective  tool  is  a  mark  of 
barbarism.  Savages  no  doubt  object  to  be  civilized, 
but  it  is  not  for  us  to  complain  that  we  have  been,  how- 
ever reluctantly,  forced  first  to  use  and  then  to  manu- 
facture the  more  effective  tools,  which  were  first 
brought  into  use  by  our  American  kinsmen. 

A  very  interesting  little  book  by  Mr.  Fred  Mac- 
kenzie, "The  Invaders,"  has  been  published  recently. 
It  consists  of  a  reprint  of  a  series  of  articles  which 
originally  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Daily  Mail. 
Mr.  Mackenzie  is  one  of  the  rising  younger  pressmen  of 
London,  and  his  little  book  deserves  the  attentive  pe- 
rusal of  all  persons  interested  in  this  subject.  Mr.  Mac- 
kenzie writes  a  bright  and  lively  style,  but  when  you 
examine  his  book  you  will  find  that  most  of  the 
triumphs  of  which  the  American  invaders  have  to 
boast  are  in  fields  which  we  have  left  them  free  to 
occupy. 

Typewriters,  he  tells  us,  are  imported  from  New 
York  at  an  average  value  of  ^200,000  a  year.  The 
British  Government  had  to  buy  their  telephones  for 
London  from  the  Western  Electric  Company  of 
Chicago.  In  electric  traction  half  of  the  motors  on 
British  street  cars  are  American. 

The  Central  Railway  Company  was  equipped  by  the 
New  York  General  Electric  Company,  and  another 
New  York  firm  boasts  that  they  have  supplied  eleven 

353 


American  Exports 

of  the  leading  street  electric  tramlines  in  Great  Britain. 
The  new  West  London  lines  and  two  dozen  others 
are  supplied  with  a  street  car  equipment  from  New 
York. 

The  Eastman  Kodak  Company  imports  £200,000 
worth  of  American  photographic  apparatus  every  year. 
A  similar  amount  of  money  is  spent  every  year  in  the 
purchase  of  American  sewing  machines.  The  sale  of 
American  drugs  in  Great  Britain  amounts  to  very 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year.  The  Americans 
are  importing  soda-water  fountains,  blouses  for 
women,  carpet-sweepers,  darning  machines,  patching 
up  apparatus,  and  all  manner  of  similar  inventions 
which  we  had  not  even  the  sense  to  desire  nor  the  in- 
genuity to  produce  upon  the  market.  Our  purchase 
of  American  pumps  and  pumping-machines,  American 
pipes  and  fittings  represent  between  £300,000  and 
£400,000  a  year. 

The  American  machine  tool,  Mr.  Mackenzie  says, 
is  triumphant  everywhere.  Fifty  American  anneal- 
ing furnaces  are  in  use  at  Woolwich  Arsenal,  and  in 
Sheffield  the  makers  are  using  an  American  apparatus. 
The  most  effective  passage  in  Mr.  Mackenzie's  book  is 
the  following: — • 

"In  the  domestic  life  we  have  got  to  this:  The 
average  man  rises  in  the  morning  from  his  New  Eng- 
land sheets,  he  shaves  with  'Williams' '  soap  and  a 
Yankee  safety  razor,  pulls  on  his  Boston  boots  over 
his  socks  from  North  Carolina,  fastens  his  Connec- 
ticut braces,  slips  his  Waltham  or  Waterbury  watch 
in  his  pocket,  and  sits  down  to  breakfast.  There  he 
354 


American  Exports 

congratulates  his  wife  on  the  way  her  Illinois  straight- 
front  corset  sets  off  her  Massachusetts  blouse,  and  he 
tackles  his  breakfast,  where  he  eats  bread  made  from 
prairie  flour  (possibly  doctored  at  the  special  estab- 
lishments on  the  lakes),  tinned  oysters  from  Balti- 
more and  a  little  Kansas  city  bacon,  while  his  wife 
plays  with  a  slice  of  Chicago  ox-tongue.  The  chil- 
dren are  given  'Quaker'  oats.  At  the  same  time  he 
reads  his  morning  paper  printed  by  American  ma- 
chines, on  American  paper,  with  American  ink,  and, 
possibly,  edited  by  a  smart  journalist  from  New  York 
city. 

"He  rushes  out,  catches  the  electric  tram  (New 
York)  to  Shepherd's  Bush,  where  he  gets  in  a  Yan- 
kee elevator  to  take  him  on  to  the  American-fitted  elec- 
tric railway  to  the  City. 

"At  his  office,  of  course,  everything  is  American. 
He  sits  on  a  Nebraskan  swivel  chair,  before  a  Michigan 
roll-top  desk,  writes  his  letters  on  a  Syracuse  type- 
writer, signing  them  with  a  New  York  fountain  pen, 
and  drying  them  with  a  blotting-sheet  from  New 
England.  The  letter  copies  are  put  away  in  files  man- 
ufactured in  Grand  Rapids. 

"At  lunch-time  he  hastily  swallows  some  cold  roast 
beef  that  comes  from  the  Mid- West  cow,  and  flavors 
it  with  Pittsburg  pickles,  followed  by  a  few  Delaware 
tinned  peaches,  and  then  soothes  his  mind  with  a  couple 
of  Virginia  cigarettes. 

"To  follow  his  course  all  day  would  be  wearisome. 
But  when  evening  comes  he  seeks  relaxation  at  the 
latest  American  musical  comedy,  drinks  a  cocktail  or 

355 


Mr.  Carnegie's  Opinion 

some  Californian  wine,  and  finishes  up  with  a  couple 
of  'little  liver  pills'  'made  in  America.'  " 

What  will  be  the  ultimate  destiny  of  Great  Britain 
from  an  economic  point  of  view  ?  It  depends  upon  the 
Britons.  Mr.  Carnegie  is  of  a  different  opinion.  He 
thinks  it  depends  upon  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
country.  Three  years  ago  he  laid  down  as  an  axiom 
that  "raw  materials  have  now  power  to  attract  capital, 
and  also  to  attract  and  develop  labor  for  their  manu- 
facture in  close  proximity,  and  that  skilled  labor  is 
losing  the  power  it  once  had  to  attract  raw  materials 
to  it  from  afar." 

If  this  be  an  axiom,  then  our  cotton  mills  will 
migrate  from  Lancashire  to  the  Southern  States  of 
America.  The  iron  trade  of  the  world  will  be  local- 
ized at  Pittsburg.  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  is  a  philosopher 
in  his  way,  maintains  that  no  nation  in  future  will  be 
able  permanently  to  maintain  a  greater  population 
than  it  can  feed  and  support  with  its  own  products. 

"The  destiny  of  the  Old  Country  seems  to  me  very 
plain.  You  will  be  the  family  seat  of  the  race.  Your 
manufactures  will  go  one  after  the  other,  but  you 
will  become  more  and  more  popular  as  the  garden  and 
pleasure-ground  of  the  race,  which  will  always  regard 
Great  Britain  as  its  ancestral  home.  Probably  you  will 
be  able  to  support  15,000,000,  not  more." 

It  is  well  to  cultivate  a  healthy  scepticism  concerning 
all  such  predictions.  So  far  as  we  can  see  from  the 
trend  of  events  at  the  present  moment  the  producing 
power  of  Great  Britain  is  likely  to  undergo  an  immense 
increase,  because  Great  Britain  is  beginning  to  be 
356 


The  Awakening 

energized  by  the  electric  current  of  American  ideas 
and  American  methods.  Lord  Rosebery  recently 
said : — • 

"In  these  days  we  need  to  be  inoculated  with  some 
of  the  nervous  energy  of  Americans.  That  is  true  of 
individuals,  admittedly  true,  but  is  it  not  also  true  of 
the  nation?" 

He  uttered  a  truth  which  is  even  now  being  largely 
acted  upon.  For  the  last  twelve  months  there  has 
been  a  constant  pilgrimage  across  the  Atlantic  from 
the  Old  Country,  in  which  our  manufacturers,  our  rail- 
way managers,  our  ship-builders,  our  iron-makers,  our 
merchant  princes,  have  been  wending  their  way  to  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  secret 
by  which  the  Americans  are  beginning  to  beat  us  in 
our  own  market.  The  British  race  is  a  tough  race,  and 
it  has  long  been  a  national  boast  that  the  Englishman 
never  knows  when  he  is  beaten. 

But  that  is  not  the  only  encouraging  sign.  Here  and 
there  all  over  the  country  we  can  see  British  firms 
adopting  American  methods,  and  beating  the  Ameri- 
cans at  their  own  game.  In  the  supply  of  electrical  ap- 
paratus, a  British  firm  in  the  north  of  England,  which 
has  frankly  recognized  the  conditions  of  modern  in- 
dustry, has  imported  American  managers,  American 
machinery  and  American  methods,  and  is  already  be- 
ginning successfully  to  compete  with  the  American 
companies  for  the  supply  of  all  manner  of  electrical 
appliances. 

What  the  Preston  Electric  Company  have  done  others 
are  doing.  The  attempt  of  the  Americans  to  rush  the 

357 


Colonizing  Great  Britain 

cycle  trade  proved  the  British  bicycle  more  than  cap- 
able of  holding  its  own  against  the  American  cycle. 
The  American  watch  for  a  time  swept  everything  be- 
fore it.  The  English,  at  any  rate,  have  shown  that 
they  are  capable  of 'holding  their  own.  They  are  lay- 
ing down  plant  in  London  for  the  making  and  supply- 
ing of  office  furniture  which  will  compete  with  the 
best  American. 

Depend  upon  it  that  John  Bull  is  not  going  to  take 
his  beating  lying  down,  but  the  enterprise  of  English 
firms  will  hardly  be  able  to  cope  with  the  increasing 
numbers  of  Americans  who  are  crossing  the  Atlantic 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  themselves  in  business 
here.  The  most  conspicuous  illustration  of  this  mov- 
ing of  American  capital  back  to  the  old  home  of  the 
race  is  the  Westinghouse  Company's  works  near  Man- 
chester, directed  by  American  managers,  and  managed 
on  American  principles.  With  these  Americans  who 
settle  in  our  midst  the  Old  Country  will  become  the 
new  home  of  the  American  colonists. 

One  American  institution,  the  New  York  Mutual 
Life  Insurance,  occupies  a  most  palatial  pile  of  build- 
ings in  the  city  of  London,  and  its  manager,  an  Amer- 
ican born,  is  more  British  than  a  Britisher. 

The  American  soda-water  fountain  is  now  manu- 
factured in  the  city  of  London.  Before  long  we  shall 
see  established  in  our  midst  American  hotels,  and  al- 
ready at  the  corner  of  Wellington  Street  and  the 
Strand,  on  the  site  occupied  by  the  Morning  Post  office 
and  the  old  Gaiety  Theatre,  a  building  is  being  erected 
which,  according  to  its  promoters,  will  be  the  largest 
358 


He  Who  Laughs  Last 

building  to  be  used  as  an  office  in  the  world.  Before 
long,  Siegel,  Cooper  &  Co.,  and  Mr.  Wanamaker  will 
be  setting  up  their  huge  stores  in  our  midst. 

Mr.  Yerkes  is  preparing  to  electrify  the  Under- 
ground, and  revolutionize  the  whole  of  our  street  rail- 
ways. Mr.  Milholland  and  Mr.  Batchelar  are  im- 
patiently waiting  for  permission  to  lay  down  pneu- 
matic tubes  all  over  London  by  which  all  parcels  will 
be  shot  underground  from  one  end  of  London  to  the 
other.  John  Bull  will  have  to  smarten  up;  there  will 
be  a  difficult  quarter  of  an  hour  for  the  old  gentleman, 
but  the  results  will  probably  astonish  no  one  so  much 
as  those  Americans  who  have  been  calmly  selling  the 
lion's  skin  before  the  lion  was  dead. 


359 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World    « 


Chapter  Seventh 

Railways,  Shipping  and  Trusts 

ALTHOUGH  there  are  200,000  miles  of  railway  in  the 
United  States  alone,  the  railway  itself  is  but  a  thing  of 
yesterday.  A  curious  reminder  of  this  was  afforded 
us  this  year  by  the  unearthing  in  Iowa  by  some  enter- 
prising pressmen  of  the  very  man  who  drove  Stephen- 
son's  "Rocket"  on  the  eventful  day  when  on  the  open- 
ing of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  the  train 
knocked  down  and  killed  Mr.  Huskisson.  Edward 
Entwhistle  was  a  Lancashire  lad  of  eighteen  when 
George  Stephenson  took  him  out  of  the  engine-shop 
and  put  him  at  the  throttle  of  the  "Rocket"  on  the  open- 
ing day.  He  is  now  a  man  of  eighty-six. 

After  acting  as  engine-driver  on  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  for  over  two  years,  he  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica in  1837,  where  he  took  up  the  trade  of  stationary 
engineer.  He  is  still  in  good  health  and  sufficiently 
alert  to  be  capable  of  giving  occasional  addresses  on 
his  reminiscences  of  Stephenson,  in  which,  judging 
from  the  newspaper  reports,  Mr.  Huskisson  reappears 
360 


The  Bridge  Builders 

as  Lord  Erkinson,  so  that  the  span  of  a  single  life 
easily  covers  the  whole  of  the  railway  era. 

It  may  be  regarded  as  symbolic  that  the  first  engine- 
driver  should  so  soon  have  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  as  if  divining  by  some  secret  unconscious  in- 
stinct that  it  was  there  the  genius  of  Stephenson  would 
bear  its  richest  fruits.  By  every  test,  whether  quanti- 
tative or  qualitative,  the  American  stands  out  facile 
princeps  in  all  things  connected  with  the  railway.  To 
begin  with,  he  has  built  nearly  half  the  railways  in  the 
world. 

Not  only  has  he  spanned  his  own  continent  with  a 
perfect  gridiron  of  metalled  way,  but  he  is  now  carry- 
ing off  contracts  for  the  bridge  work,  which,  with  the 
exception  of  tunnelling,  constitutes  the  most  diffi- 
cult and  delicate  of  all  the  operations  of  railway  struc- 
ture. But  it  was  only  yesterday  that  their  pre-emi- 
nence as  bridge  builders  dawned  upon  the  British  pub- 
lic, which  has  even  yet  hardly  recovered  from  the 
shock  of  discovering  that  all  the  Queen's  horses  and 
all  the  Queen's  men  were  incapable  of  conquering  the 
Soudan  without  resorting  to  the  humiliating  necessity 
of  accepting  an  American  tender  for  the  building  of  a 
bridge  across  the  Atbara. 

The  British  could  have  built  it  themselves,  no  doubt, 
but  they  could  not  do  the  work  up  to  time.  Few  in- 
cidents caused  more  chagrin,  and  the  most  conclusive 
explanations  were  speedily  forthcoming  to  prove  how 
easily  the  British  builders  could  have  done  the  task  if 
they  had  only  had  a  reasonable  notice  and  been  treated 
with  reasonable  fairness. 

36* 


Bridging  the  World 

These  explanations,  apparently  conclusive,  tempo- 
rarily allayed  John  Bull's  ill-humor,  but  it  was  only  for 
a  time.  Last  autumn  the  American  Bridge  Company 
carried  off  contracts  for  constructing  no  fewer  than 
twenty-eight  bridge's  and  viaducts  required  to  com- 
plete the  Uganda  Railway. 

The  work  is  now  in  active  progress,  and  the  bridges 
are  in  process  of  shipment  across  the  Atlantic  for 
Uganda,  one  of  the  territories  which  was  occupied  for 
the  express  purpose  of  developing  British  trade  in 
South  Africa.  Money  is  being  poured  out  like  water 
in  order  to  secure  this  market  for  British  manufac- 
tured goods,  and  lo !  the  American  steps  in  and  carries 
off  the  contracts  for  building  these  bridges  without 
having  incurred  a  penny  of  expense  or  an  atom  of 
responsibility  in  opening  up  the  country. 

The  same  thing  is  occurring  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  Americans  have  just  built  the  largest 
bridge  in  the  world  over  the  Goktein  in  Upper  Burma. 
And  as  it  is  with  bridges,  so  it  promises  to  be  with 
rails.  Mr.  Rhodes  experienced  a  cruel  shock  when 
in  opening  tenders  for  the  construction  of  the  south- 
ern end  of  his  Cape  to  Cairo  Railway,  he  discovered 
that  Mr.  'Carnegie  was  able  to  deliver  steel  rails  in 
South  Africa  at  a  lower  price  than  any  English  manu- 
facturer. 

The  patriotic  pride  of  the  South  African  Colossus 
prompted  him  to  take  advantage  of  a  technical  flaw 
in  Mr.  Carnegie's  contract  in  order  to  accept  the  ten- 
der of  a  British  firm ;  but  to  this  day  he  feels  uneasy  at 
the  remembrance  of  the  subterfuge  to  which  he  had 
362 


Ten  Per  Cent.  Preferences 

to  resort  in  order  to  keep  the  trade  in  British  hands. 
"It  would  have  been  too  bad,"  he  said,  somewhat  pa- 
thetically, "to  think  of  my  Cape  to  Cairo  line  being 
made  with  American  rails !" 

In  war,  as  in  peace,  it  is  the  same  thing.  While  the 
Imperial  Government  was  importing  American  mules 
by  the  thousand  from  New  Orleans  to  give  mobility 
to  its  flying  columns  at  the  seat  of  war,  the  Cape  Gov- 
ernment was  placing  contracts  with  American  engi- 
neers for  engines  which  could  not  be  supplied  from 
British  workshops,  even  although,  as  the  Colonial 
Government  plaintively  explained,  it  gave  a  ten  per 
cent,  preference  to  British  manufactures.  But  it  is 
impossible  long  to  carry  on  business  in  which  con- 
tracts, like  kissing,  go  by  favor,  and  not  to  the  best 
tender;  and  such  devices  as  ten  per  cent,  preferences 
and  the  like  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  confession 
of  defeat.  If  British  engineers  can  only  hold  their 
own  with  a  ten  per  cent,  adverse  handicap  against 
their  American  competitors,  the  question  is  ended,  and 
the  superiority  of  the  Yankee  is  attested  by  the  very 
terms  of  the  competition  insisted  upon  by  his  rival. 

As  it  is  with  bridges  and  with  rails,  so  it  is  even 
more  conspicuously  with  American  locomotives. 
They  are  not  artistic  toys,  the  giant  engines  which  do 
the  haulage  of  a  continent,  neither  do  they  require 
one  month  in  the  paintshop,  as  is  said  to  be  the  case  in 
our  own  Midland  Railway.  But  they  are  the  strong- 
est haulers  in  the  world,  and  they  go  at  the  greatest 
speed.  America  holds  the  world's  record  both  for 
speed  at  all  distances  and  for  the  weight  of  the 

363 


American  Locomotives 

trains  hauled  by  a  single  locomotive.  Philadelphia 
railway  expresses  are  constantly  timed  to  run  at 
sixty  ?siv  miles  an  hour,  and  it  is  nothing  unusual 
for  trains  when  under  pressure  to  dash  along  the 
metal  way  at  the  rate  of  eighty  to  eighty-four  miles  an 
hour.  The  tendency  is  ever  towards  more  and  more 
powerful  engines,  with  heavier  haulage  capacity. 

The  Americans  laugh  to  scorn  what  they  regard  as 
the  toy  cars  in  use  in  the  Old  World.  At  one  time 
their  average  freight  cars  weighed  ten  tons,  and  only 
carried  their  own  weight.  To-day  they  weigh  fifteen 
tons  and  carry  thirty.  A  single  engine  will  grapple  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  these  cars,  loaded  to  their  utmost 
capacity,  and  make  no  complaint  if  half  a  dozen  extra 
are  hitched  on  behind.  The  result  of  this  continual 
development  in  the  direction  of  greater  haulage  capa- 
city is  that  the  freight  on  American  railways  is  about 
half  what  it  is  in  this  country. 

The  United  States  at  one  time  imported  locomotives 
from  this  country.  They  are  now  exporting  loco- 
motives to  all  parts  of  the  British  .Empire.  Recently 
the  reputation  of  the  American  engine  has  been  some- 
what prejudiced,  first,  by  the  inferior  quality  of  loco- 
motives sent  to  Australia ;  secondly,  by  an  adverse 
report  made  by  the  Locomotive  Superintendent  of  the 
Midland  Railway  as  to  the  extra  working  cost  of  an 
American  engine.  He  reported  that  as  the  result  of 
a  six  months'  trial,  the  American  engine  cost  20  to  25 
per  cent,  more  for  fuel,  50  per  cent,  more  for  oil,  and 
60  per  cent,  more  for  repairs.  This  report  was  re- 
ceived with  a  chorus  of  delight  in  English  papers; 
364 


Interesting  Comparisons 

but,  as  was  immediately  pointed  out  by  an  American 
writer  in  an  interesting  paper  published  in  the  World  'a 
Work  for  November,  under  the  title  of  "The  American 
Locomotive  Abroad,"  the  Midland  Report  was  far 
from  conclusive  for  several  reasons. 

First,  the  so-called  American  engines  were  not  of 
the  pure  American  type,  but  were  modified  to  meet 
English  ideas;  secondly,  the  report  gives  no  informa- 
tion as  to  the  amount  of  coal  burned,  oil  used,  or 
money  spent  in  repairs.  The  American  locomotives 
may  have  burned  25  per  cent,  more  coal,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  may  have  been  capable  of  hauling  50 
per  cent,  more  freight;  and  as  for  the  repairs,  60  per 
cent,  against  the  Americans  looks  very  formidable, 
but  if  the  total  repairs  on  either  engine  did  not  amount 
to  more  than  icw.,  a  difference  even  of  100  per  cent, 
would  mean  nothing.  All  attempts  to  draw  informa- 
tion from  the  Midland  superintendent  on  this  point 
have  failed  to  elicit  any  facts  beyond  those  contained 
in  the  report. 

It  is  a  notable  fact,  says  the  writer  of  the  article  al- 
ready quoted,  that  the  first  American  locomotive  ever 
imported  into  England  was  built  sixty  years  ago  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  the  English  railway  manager 
to  prove  that  it  was  possible  to  haul  loaded  trains  up 
a  steep  incline  in  the  Birmingham-Gloucester  Rail- 
way. Four  engines  were  ordered  in  1840,  and  they 
triumphantly  accomplished  their  task.  Thus,  says  Mr. 
Cunnliff,  the  author  of  "The  American  Locomotive 
Abroad,"  the  Birmingham  and  Gloucester  line,  on 
which  the  American  engines  first  made  their  reputa- 

365 


Locomotive  Exports 

tion,  is  now  part  of  the  Midland,  whose  officers  have 
recently  tried  to  ruin  that  reputation.  The  engines 
of  1840  and  those  of  1900  were  both  built  in  the  same 
workshops. 

The  Baldwin  Locdmotive  Works  of  Philadelphia 
alone  export  about  one  locomotive  a  day,  year  in, 
year  out.  In  1899  and  1900  they  shipped  701  locomo- 
tives to  the  following  countries : — 

NORTH  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

Canada  Nova  Scotia  Newfoundland  British  Columbia 

Alaska  Mexico  Costa  Rica         Cuba 

Porto  Rico        Hawaii  Yucatan  San  Domingo 

Ecuador  Colombia  Peru  Brazil 

Chile 

EUROPE. 

England  Ireland  France  Spain 

Belgium  Holland  Bavaria  Denmark 

Norway  Sweden  Finland  Russia 

ASIA  AND  AUSTRALIA. 

Manchuria         Siberia  India  China 

Japan  Burma  Assam  Victoria 

AFRICA. 

Algeria  Tunis  Soudan  Egypt 

Uganda  Cape  Colony 

This  represents  the  major  part  of  the  American  trade, 
for  the  other  firms  only  brought  the  total  export  up  to 
525  engines  for  one  year.  For  heavy  hauls  on  steep 
gradients  the  American  engines  appear  to  leave  all 
their  rivals  far  behind.  There  is  said  to  be  only  one 
English  locomotive  left  in  the  United  States.  It  is  on 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  its  driver  is  said  to 
have  reported  as  follows:  "It  is  a  good  enough  engine 


Contrasted  Methods 

when  it  has  nothing  to  do,  but  when  it  has  a  load  be- 
yond its  drawbar,  it  sits  down  and  looks  at  you  with 
tears  in  its  eyes." 

Patriotic  prejudice,  no  doubt,  impedes  for  a  time 
the  introduction  of  American  locomotives  into  many 
countries,  and  in  Russia  it  would  seem  the  distribution 
of  orders  is  often  governed  more  by  political  than  by 
commercial  considerations.  Another  obstacle  against 
which  they  have  to  contend,  is  that  their  enormous 
weight  requires  the  rebuilding  of  bridges  and  relay- 
ing of  contracts. 

Mr.  Cunnliff  tells  a  story  that  an  English  firm,  hav- 
ing received  notice  that  the  engines  which  they  sup- 
plied to  New  Zealand  were  unsuited  to  the  colonial 
tracks  and  bridges,  replied :  "Then  rebuild  your  tracks 
and  bridges,  and  we  will  furnish  you  with  this  sort 
of  locomotives  or  none."  Mr.  Cunnliff  maintains  that 
an  American  builder  would  have  replied,  "Expect 
new  designs  by  the  first  of  the  month."  This  is  no 
doubt  true,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  American  loco- 
motive builder  is  compelling  the  reconstruction  of 
tracks  and  bridges,  none  the  less  certainly  because  he 
is  less  domineering  in  relation  to  individual  contrac- 
tors. The  American  practice  of  standardizing  all 
parts  of  the  machine,  and  of  continually  increasing 
the  weight  in  order  to  get  a  still  increased  haulage 
power,  necessitates  alteration  in  the  permanent  way, 
for  the  railway  in  the  long  run  has  always  to  be  built 
to  suit  the  locomotive,  not  the  locomotive  to  suit  the 
railway. 

Mr.  Cunnliff  thus  lucidly  explains  the  contrast  be- 

367 


Contrasted  Methods 

tween  engine-building  in  the  New  World  and  the  Old : 
"An  American  builder  builds  an  engine  to  wear  it  out. 
Scrupulous  attention  is  paid  to  all  working  parts,  as 
any  one  can  see  who  visits  a  great  locomotive  plant. 
The  mechanism  of  each  machine  is  made  easily  acces- 
sible. Parts  are  interchangeable,  so  that  repairs  can 
be  made  with  speed.  No  unnecessary  paint  is  wasted. 
As  soon  as  the  machine  is  finished,  it  is  put  in  com- 
mission and  driven  day  and  night  with  the  heaviest 
loads  it  can  stagger  under.  It  goes  into  the  repair 
shop  only  when  it  requires  overhauling.  Men  are 
hired  to  run  it  at  good  wages,  men  of  ability  and  intel- 
ligence, with  a  typically  American  personal  interest 
in  their  charge.  Under  such  methods  the  engine  is 
banged  through  a  quarter  century  of  strenuous  ac- 
tivity, and  then  antiquated,  worn  out,  superseded  by 
advanced  types,  it  goes  to  the  scrap  heap.  The  result 
is  profit. 

"In  England — and  in  France,  for  that  matter — an 
engine  is  built  to  last.  Twenty  years  after  it  has  been 
superseded  by  newer  and  better  types,  a  locomotive  is 
as  tenderly  cared  for  as  ever.  The  result  is  decreas- 
ing dividends." 

Of  course,  if,  as  Mr.  Cunnliff  asserts,  Americans  can 
deliver  engines  in  Japan  at  £2,000,  which  do  better 
work  than  Knglish  engines  which  cost  £3,000,  it  is 
out  of  the  question  to  talk  about  competition,  except 
such  competition  as  is  said  to  prevail  between  Lombard 
Street  and  a  China  orange.  The  moral  of  it  all  is  in 
this,  as  in  every  thing  else,  that  the  American  success 


368 


Startling  Figures 

has  been  obtained  by  skilled  workmanship  and  busi- 
nesslike methods. 

Mr.  Chauncey  M.  Depew  in  his  address  to  railway 
men  at  the  Buffalo  Exhibition  gave  some  very  interest- 
ing figures  as  to  the  growth  of  the  American  railroad. 
Railway  freight  rates  in  the  United  States  were,  he 
said,  almost  exactly  one-third  of  what  they  were  when 
he  entered  the  service  in  1866.  At  the  same  time  the 
wages  of  the  railway  men  have  nearly  doubled,  the 
precise  increase  being  87^  per  cent. 

As  there  are  more  than  a  million  of  them,  the  gain 
in  the  weekly  wage  bill  of  America  from  this  source 
alone  is  enormous.  Their  annual  pay  bill  for  wages  is 
£125,000,000,  or  60  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  operating 
the  lines.  The  United  States  with  only  6  per  cent, 
of  the  land  surface  of  the  world  has  40  per  cent,  of 
the  railroad  track.  Its  193,000  mileage  is  six  times 
that  of  any  other  nation,  and  Mr.  Depew  declares  that 
they  haul  more  freight  every  year  than  is  moved  by  all 
the  railways  and  all  the  ships  of  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Germany  combined. 

An  American  engine  recently  hauled  a  train  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  in  length  at  the  rate  of  20  miles  an 
hour.  The  gross  weight  behind  the  engine  was  over 
3,000  tons.  Another  engine  on  a  New  York  railway 
developed  1,142  horse  power.  The  average  load  of 
an  American  freight  train  is  2,000  tons,  that  of  the 
English  only  600.  The  General  Superintendent  of 
the  London  and  Western  Railway,  who  has  just  re- 
turned from  an  inspection  of  American  lines,  reported 


369 


British  Ship-Building 

that  in  passenger  traffic  we  have  little  to  learn,  but 
that  we  ought  to  revolutionize  our  goods  traffic. 

He  said :  "Our  freight  system  is  wasteful.  Amer- 
ican goods  engines  can  haul  two  or  three  times  as 
much  weight  by  one,  train  as  we  can.  We  must  have 
heavier  goods  locomotives.  We  must  also  have  air 
brakes  on  goods  trains.  At  present  the  only  brakes 
on  our  trains  are  the  engine  brakes  and  the  brakes  at 
the  end  of  the  train.  In  consequence  of  improved 
appliances  the  American  railways  not  only  haul 
heavier  freights,  but  run  much  faster  than  ours.  I 
shall  urge  the  extension  of  the  American  system  of 
pneumatic  signalling  for  interlocking,  which  gives 
such  excellent  results  on  American  lines." 

In  ship-building  we  are  holding  our  own.  It  is 
true  that  the  Americans  have  begun  to  build  a  few 
ships,  but  as  yet  they  have  been  badly  beaten  in  any 
attempt  to  produce  ships  at  the  prices  at  which  they 
can  be  turned  out  on  the  Tyne,  the  Clyde,  or  at 
Belfast. 

Whether  we  shall  be  able  permanently  to  maintain 
our  position  in  ship-building,  or  victoriously  to  repel 
any  further  attacks  upon  our  iron  and  steel  manu- 
factures, are  questions  for  the  answers  to  which  we 
have  to  wait.  But  there  is  certainly  no  reason  to 
despair.  Our  manufacturers  have  as  much  work  as 
they  can  get  through,  and  so  far  we  have  not  seen  any 
great  branch  of  British  industry  disorganized  and  its 
workmen  thrown  out  of  employment  owing  to  the  ad- 
vent of  the  American  invaders. 

In  the  building  of  swift  ocean  greyhounds  we  are 
370 


American  Ship-Building 

beaten  by  Germany  as  in  the  building  of  racing  yachts 
we  are  beaten  by  America.  And  although  we  still  can 
plume  ourselves  upon  our  ability  to  build  more 
cheaply  than  any  other  nation,  this  may  not  last.  Dr. 
von  Halle,  who  was  sent  out  by  the  German  Admiralty 
to  make  an  investigation  of  the  shipyards  of  Europe 
and  America,  reported  that  the  new  Camden  works  in 
New  Jersey  were  destined  to  be  one  of  the  model 
establishments  of  the  world. 

Dr.  von  Halle  reported  that  "the  shipyards  of  the 
United  States  are  incomparably  equipped  for  thorough, 
economical  and  rapid  production.  This  is  due  pri- 
marily to  the  splendid  transportation  arrangements  of 
the  yard  areas,  the  employment  of  the  most  improved 
type  of  hoisting  machinery,  and  the  widespread  use 
of  pneumatic  tools."  They  would,  he  thought,  distance 
in  the  near  future  those  of  Great  Britain,  because  they 
were  free  from  the  "tyranny  of  the  workmen." 

The  Americans,  who  have  been  carrying  all  before 
•them  on  the  land,  would  have  been  false  to  their  an- 
cestry if  they  did  not .  hanker  after  dominion  on  the 
sea.  Captain  Mahan,  whose  book  on  Sea  Power  has 
done  more  to  promote  the  increase  of  the  Navy  botR 
in  Great  Britain  and  in  Germany  than  any  book  that 
has  ever  been  written,  preached  his  doctrine  primarily 
for  his  own  people. 

President  Roosevelt  is  ar  enthusiast  for  a  strong 
Navy.  He  does  not  say  in  the  Kaiser's  phrase  that 
America's  future  lies  upon  the  sea,  because  he  would 
scorn  to  confine  America's  future  to  any  element,  even 
to  that  which  covers  three-fourths  of  the  world's  sur- 

37J 


Building  a  Navy 

face.  But  although  the  Americans  have  a  Navy  very 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  Germany,  they  are  not  satis- 
fied. They  have  few  over-sea  possessions  to  protect, 
and  despite  various  fantastic  schemes  published  by 
German  officers  as  to  a  possible  descent  of  a  German 
expeditionary  force  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  they 
know  perfectly  well  that  they  are  safe  from  European 
attack. 

Nothing  will  satisfy  them  but  that  they  must  have 
ships  of  commerce  and  ships  of  war.  As  to  ships  of 
war  this  is  merely  a  matter  of  expenditure,  and  as  the 
embarrassment  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  to 
get  rid  of  the  surplus  which  is  unnecessarily  taken 
from  the  taxpayers  in  excess  of  the  needs  of  the  Repub- 
lic, there  is  nothing  to  hinder  the  United  States  build- 
ing up  as  big  a  Navy  as  that  of  Great  Britain. 

When  a  nation  has  a  large  mercantile  marine  the 
existence  of  so  many  tons  of  shipping  is  regarded  as 
an  unanswerable  argument  in  favor  of  building  iron- 
clads to  protect  its  shipping.  In  the  United  States 
they  have  no  shipping  to  protect,  so  they  build  a  fleet 
first,  and  then  say  they  must  create  a  mercantile  marine 
in  order  to  keep  the  building-yards  busy,  and  in  order 
to  rear  sailors  to  man  their  fighting  Navy. 

It  was  this  aspiration  after  ships  which  led  Mr.  J. 
P.  Morgan  to  make  the  famous  purchase  of  the  Ley- 
land  line  of  steamers,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  note  of  the  tocsin  which  has  been  ringing  in  our 
ears  ever  since.  It  is  not  twelve  months  since  Britain 
was  startled  by  the  news  that  Mr.  Morgan,  on  behalf 
of  an  American  combination,  had  bought  up  the  entire 
372 


The  Sale  of  Ocean  Fleets 

fleet  of  Leyland  steamers  on  terms  which  were  much 
better  than  the  shareholders  could  have  obtained  from 
any  other  purchaser. 

The  suddenness  with  which  the  deal  was  effected, 
and  the  fact  that  Mr.  Morgan  was  not  an  English- 
man, and  that  the  Leyland  ships  were  bought  on  an 
American  account,  struck  the  imagination  of  the  whole 
English-speaking  race.  British  shipowners  took  the 
matter  more  coolly  than  the  British  public,  for  British 
shipowners  in  dealing  with  their  ships  are  very  much 
like  the  American  engineers  in  handling  their  engines. 
Just  as  an  American  is  always  anxious  to  work  his  en- 
gine out  so  that  he  may  get  a  new  one  with  the  latest 
improvements,  so  the  British  shipbuilder  has  never  any 
objection  to  sell  an  old  ship  in  order  to  raise  funds 
with  which  to  build  a  new  one. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Ship- 
ping Company  was  far  from  holding  up  his  hands  in 
holy  horror  at  the  Leyland  deal,  but  declared  that  he 
would  be  very  glad  to  sell  the  whole  fleet  of  the  P.  and 
O.  if  terms  equally  good  were  offered  him  by  the 
Americans  or  any  one  else.  To  get  new  ships  for  old 
has  never  been  regarded  as  bad  policy  by  our  ship- 
owners. It  is  possible  that  they  may  carry  things  a 
little  too  far,  as,  for  instance,  when  two  British  lineg 
of  steamers  trading  in  the  Far  East  were  sold  to  the 
Germans  with  the  result  that  the  British  flag  practi- 
cally disappeared  from  Bangkok,  Borneo,  and  other 
regions. 

The  significance  of  the  incident  arose  from  the  fact 
that  it  indicated  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the 

373 


Mr.  Gage's  Opinion 

Americans  to  acquire  a  ready-made  fleet,  from  which 
we  may  draw  the  conclusion  that  they  were  so  eager 
to  create  a  mercantile  marine  that  they  were  willing 
to  take  secondhand  goods  rather  than  wait  until  new 
ships  could  be  bought. 

Mr.  Gage,  in  the  Report  which  he  presented  to  Con- 
gress at  the  beginning  of  the  last  session,  pointed  out 
that  only  8.2  per  cent,  of  American  exports  and  imports 
were  carried  in  American  ships.  This  percentage, 
says  Mr.  Gage,  "is  the  smallest  in  our  history.  Our 
position  on  the  sea,  except  as  a  naval  power,  is  insig- 
nificant. The  Americans  have  only  one  line  of  steam- 
ers crossing  the  Atlantic  to  Europe,  two  lines  of  seven 
steamers  crossing  the  Pacific  to  Asia,  and  one  line  of 
three  steamers  to  Australia.  South  of  the  Caribbean 
Sea  and  the  Isthmus  there  is  no  regular  communica- 
tion by  American  steamers  with  either  coast  of  South 
America. 

"This  state  of  things  appears  deplorable  to  the  nation 
which  produces  more  materials  for  ship-building  than 
any  other,  and  whose  artisans  are  quite  competent  to 
construct  the  best  ships  that  have  ever  crossed  the 
waves.  We  build  few  ships  for  foreign  trade,"  says 
Mr.  Gage.  "It  is  desirable  that  we  should  build 
many.  We  have  very  few  ships  under  the  flag  in 
foreign  trade.  It  is  desirable  that  we  should  have 
many."  Therefore  he  recommends  as  a  temporary 
expedient  that  navigation  bounties  should  be  estab- 
lished in  order  to  overcome  the  obstacle  created  by  the 
fact  that  Great  Britain  can  build  her  ships  cheaper  and 
man  them  more  economically  than  Americans. 
374 


The  Trusts 

As  the  Republican  party  is  split  upon  the  question 
of  ship-building  bounties,  it  is  difficult  for  outsiders 
to  estimate  what  chance  there  is  of  the  acceptance  of 
Mr.  Gage's  proposal. 

The  thorny  and  much  debated  question  of  trusts 
was  raised  in  this  country  in  an  active  shape  by  the 
action  of  Mr.  Morgan.  At  first  the  spectacle  of  the 
Billion  Dollar  Trust  disturbed  the  equanimity  of  the 
British  public.  But  after  a  time  people  began  to  re- 
member that  the  two  most  conspicuous  figures  in  Brit- 
ish Imperialism  both  acquired  the  fortunes  which  ren- 
dered it  possible  for  them  to  become  politically  influ- 
ential by  means  of  trusts.  The  De  Beers  Company  is 
one  of  the  most  gigantic  amalgamations  in  the  world. 

One  by  one  the  competing  interests  of  the  diamond- 
mine  owners  in  South  Africa  were  bought  up  or 
acquired,  until  at  last  Mr.  Rhodes  and  his  fellow  direc- 
tors had  an  absolute  monopoly  of  the  diamond  in- 
dustry of  South  Africa.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  the  pre- 
cursor of  Mr.  Morgan.  For  the  Rockefeller  of  Brit- 
ain we  look  nearer  home.  No  one  has  made  any  com- 
plaint of  the  legitimacy  of  the  methods  adopted  by 
Mr.  Morgan  or  Mr.  Rhodes  in  the  buying  up  of  the 
competing  interests.  It  is  far  otherwise  with  the 
methods  adopted  by  Mr.  Rockefeller,  when  he  built 
up  the  gigantic  monopoly  which  is  known  as  the 
Standard  Oil  Trust  of  the  United  States. 

No  small  portion  of  the  odium  which  exists  in  this 
country  against  the  American  trusts  in  any  shape  or 
form  is  due  to  the  influence  of  Mr.  Lloyd's  book, 
"Wealth  against  Commonwealth,"  in  which  the  whole 

375 


The  Trusts 

of  the  process  of  building  up  a  gigantic  monopoly  is 
described  with  merciless  lucidity.  The  spectacle  is 
not  a  pleasing  one.  We  have  fortunately  nothing  in 
the  annals  of  our  trade  that  can  be  compared  to  this 
extraordinary  conspiracy  of  capital  to  crush  out  com- 
petition by  the  use  of  every  method,  fair  or  unfair, 
which  did  not  land  the  conspirators  within  the  grip  of 
the  criminal  law.  But  the  art  of  building  up  a  great 
property  by  crushing  out  competition,  without  depart- 
ing one  hair's-breadth  from  the  line  of  strict  legality, 
was  one  in  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  a  past  master 
who  had  no  need  to  go  to  school  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

Upon  trusts,  as  upon  every  other  economic  question, 
there  is  a  great  difference  of  opinion.  The  late  Gov- 
ernor Pingree  of  Michigan  saw  in  the  trust  a  kind  of 
anti-Christ  whose  advent  in  these  latter  times  dark- 
ened the  horizon  of  the  Republic.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  tendency  in  many  quarters  to  regard  the 
trust  as  a  practical  and  by  no  means  illegitimate  ap- 
plication of  the  principle  of  the  elimination  of  wasteful 
expense  and  the  cheapening  of  goods  for  the  general 
consumer. 

After  considerable  dubitation,  President  Roosevelt 
seems  to  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  better 
to  take  the  optimistic  view  of  the  Trust,  and  in  his  in- 
augural address  he  confines  himself  to  a  suggestion 
that  it  would  be  well  to  turn  the  bull's-eye  of  publicity 
upon  the  trust,  and  to  insist  upon  due  investigation 
of  all  its  financial  methods.  This  is  probably  as  far 
as  any  President  of  the  United  States  could  go  at 
present. 
376 


The  Trusts 

Of  the  future  of  Trusts  there  is  much  speculation. 
Some,  among  whom  is  Sir  Christopher  Furness,  M.  P., 
who  has  just  returned  from  a  long  tour  of  inspection 
in  the  United  States,  think  that  they  will  pass  with  the 
impending  adoption  of  Free  Trade.  It  is,  however, 
by  no  means  a  self-evident  proposition  that  the  Amer- 
ican Trust  system  will  not  survive  Free  Trade.  It 
may  even  be  the  instrument  for  bringing  in  Free 
Trade.  To  the  ordinary  observer  it  seems  much  more 
probable  that  the  Trust  will  spread  to  the  United  King- 
dom than  that  it  will  disappear  from  the  United 
States. 

There  is  no  doubt,  of  course,  that  the  Tariff  and  the 
Trusts  play  into  each  other's  hands  for  the  purpose 
of  picking  the  pocket  of  the  American  consumer. 
The  Industrial  Commission,  which  has  just  concluded 
its  inquiry  into  the  whole  question,  found  from  the 
replies  received  from  over  one  hundred  manufacturers 
that  American  manufactures  are  often  sold  at  lower 
prices  abroad  than  in  the  United  States. 

The  home  market  being  secured  by  the  exclusion 
of  foreign  goods,  the  unfortunate  American  consumer 
pays  through  the  nose  in  order  that  the  American  pro- 
ducer may  supply  the  foreigner  at  cut  rates.  To  sell 
the  foreigner  the  best  American  goods  25  per  cent, 
below  the  prices  charged  to  Americans  may  be  very 
good  for  the  foreigner,  but  it  can  hardly  be  regarded 
as  good  Americanism.  Perhaps  it  may  be  accepted 
as  an  illegitimate  kind  of  compensation  awarded  to 
the  foreigner  for  the  penalties  inflicted  upon  his  goods 
by  the  Tariff. 

377 


President  Roosevelt  on  Trusts 

How  to  cope  with  the  abuses  of  Trusts*  is  a  sub- 
ject which  President  Roosevelt  has  frequently  dis- 
cussed. His  message  to  the  New  York  Legislature 
in  January,  1900,  when  he  was  Governor  of  New  York, 
should  be  read  in  connection  with  his  reference  to  the 
subject  in  his  inaugural  already  quoted.  Speaking 
as  Governor  of  New  York,  he  said: — 

"The  chief  abuses  alleged  to  arise  from  Trusts  are 
probably  the  following:  Misrepresentation  or  conceal- 
ment regarding  material  facts  connected  with  the  or- 
ganization of  an  enterprise :  the  evils  connected  with 
unscrupulous  promotion ;  overcapitalization ;  unfair 
competition  resulting  in  crushing  out  of  competitors 
who  themselves  do  not  act  improperly ;  raising  of 
prices  above  fair  competitive  rates;  the  wielding  of 
increased  power  over  the  wage  earners. 

"We  should  know  authoritatively  whether  stock  rep- 
resents the  actual  value  of  plants,  or  whether  it 
represents  brands  of  good  will ;  or,  if  not,  what  it  does 
represent,  if  anything.  It  is  desirable  to  know  how 
much  was  actually  bought,  how  much  was  issued  free, 
and  to  whom,  and,  if  possible,  for  what  reason." 

But  supposing  that  the  result  of  turning  the  bull's- 
eye  of  publicity  upon  the  Trust  and  subjecting  its 
method  to  the  microscope  of  governmental  quasi- 
judicial  investigation  were  to  reveal  a  clotted  mass  of 
force  and  fraud,  upon  which  some  of  the  greater 
Trusts  are  said  to  have  been  founded,  what  then? 
There  are  those  who  imagine  that  in  such  circum- 

*  See  on  this  subject  a  book,  "The  Control  of  Trusts,"  by 
Professor  J.  B.  Clark,  of  Columbia  University. 

378 


The  Tobacco  Trust 

stances,  or,  in  the  case  of  any  exceptionally  high- 
handed abuse  of  power  by  the  Trusts,  the  Federal 
Government  would  step  in  and  exercise  the  reserved 
right  of  every  community  to  save  itself  from  the  loss 
of  its  liberties,  by  nationalizing  the  Trust.  This  is 
easier  said  than  done ;  but  the  hope  is  so  strong  among 
many  who  are  most  opposed  to  the  methods  of  Amer- 
ican Capitalism,  that  they  refuse  to  make  any  protest, 
or  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  legitimate  evolu- 
tion of  economic  forces  which  underlie  American 
civilization.  It  is  better,  they  say,  that  their  enemies 
should  have  one  neck,  for  decapitation  will  be  much 
easier  than  if  they  had  a  thousand. 

If  Mr.  Morgan's  foray  for  the  purpose  of  buying 
the  Leyland  steamers  was  our  first  warning  as  to  the 
new  factor  in  international  competitive  trade,  the  in- 
vasion of  the  Tobacco  Trust  was  the  second,  and  one 
which  excited  much  more  interest  among  the  mass  of 
the  people.  For  comparatively  few  were  affected  by 
the  transfer  of  the  Leyland  line.  Nearly  every  other 
man  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  affected  by  the  entry 
of  the  American  Tobacco  Trust  into  the  British  field. 

They  began,  as  usual,  by  attempting  to  purchase 
the  biggest  firms  in  the  British  tobacco  trade.  Fail- 
ing with  the  biggest,  as  Mr.  Astor  failed  with  the 
Times,  they  descended  upon  the  second  best,  and  as 
he  bought  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  so  they  bought  Og- 
den's.  The  alternative  offer  to  the  shareholders  was 
very  simple.  Their  property  was  worth  at  market 
quotations  £638,000.  The  Trust  offered  to  buy  them 
out,  paying  for  the  property  £818,000  or  £180,000  above 

379 


The  Tobacco  Trust 

the  market  price.  That  was  the  offer  to  accept  or  to 
refuse.  If  they  accepted  it,  every  shareholder  would 
enjoy  a  sudden  and  immediate  increase  of  his  capital, 
which  he  was  perfectly  free,  if  so  minded,  to  invest  in 
establishing  a  new  tobacco  business,  and  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  latest  improvements,  mechanical  or 
otherwise. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  elected  to  fight,  the  im- 
mediate result  would  have  been  a  tumble  in  the  value 
of  their  shares  and  a  diminution  in  their  dividend, 
while  they  would  probably  be  forced  to  sell  in  the  end 
for  half  the  price  that  the  Trust  offered.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  decided  to 
sell,  and  the  American  Trust,  masquerading  under  the 
specious  title  of  the  British  Tobacco  Co.,  got  the  neces- 
sary foothold,  and  began  at  once  the  operations  neces- 
sary to  secure  control  of  the  market. 

For  the  consumer,  the  immediate  result  was  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  price  of  tobacco,  especially  of  cigarettes, 
all  round.  The  advent  of  the  American  competitor 
compelled  the  British  firms  to  form  a  combination,  al- 
though they  did  not  call  it  a  trust,  of  their  own,  under 
the  title  of  the  Imperial  Tobacco  Co.,  for  the  purpose 
of  defending  their  own  interests  by  common  action. 
The  battle  has  as  yet  hardly  begun,  but  it  has  already 
yielded  handsome  first  fruits  of  profit  to  the  news- 
papers, in  which  the  competing  forces  are  advertising 
very  liberally.  How  long  they  will  keep  it  up  remains 
to  be  seen.  But  what  seems  probable  is  that  they 
will  not  succeed  in  establishing  a  monopoly,  but  that 
they  will  materially  reduce  the  groflts  of  the  British 
companies. 
380 


The  Americanization 
of  the  World 

# 

Part  Four 

The  Summing-Up 

Chapter  First 

What  is  the  Secret  of  American  Success? 

THERE  is  no  one  secret  of  American  success.  It  is 
due  to  many  causes  co-operating  to  convert  the  modern 
American  into  a  dynamo  of  energy,  and  make  him  the 
supreme  type  of  a  strenuous  life. 

American  success  may  be  explained  in  many  ways. 
A  young  and  vigorous  race  has  been  let  loose  among 
the  incalculable  treasures  of  a  virgin  continent.  Into 
that  race  there  has  been  poured  in  lavish  profusion  the 
vital  energies  of  many  other  races  chosen  by  a  process 
of  natural  selection  which  eliminated  the  weaker,  the 
more  timid,  the  less  adventurous  spirits. 

This  great  amalgam  of  heterogeneous  energies  con- 
stitutes a  new  composite  race,  which  found  itself  free 
to  face  all  the  problems  of  the  universe  without  any  of 

381 


A  Jew's  Analysis 

the  restraints  of  prejudices,  traditions  or  old-estab- 
lished institutions  which  encumber  the  nations  of  the 
Old  World.  Americans  had  no  swaddling  clothes  to 
cast.  They  sprang  into  life  like  Minerva  from  the 
brain  of  Jove,  without  any  need  to  rid  themselves  of 
the  garments  of  infancy. 

They  had  also  the  immense  advantage  of  an  atmos- 
phere which  in  many  parts  of  the  continent  was  a  per- 
petual exhilaration.  All  these  causes  contribute  to 
American  success.  They  belong  to  the  Americans  as 
an  inalienable  possession,  nor  can  we  by  any  possi- 
bility hope  to  share  them.  They  are  as  inseparable 
from  the  Continent  of  America  as  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
or  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

But  there  are  other  causes  which  contribute  in  no 
small  degree  to  American  success,  of  which  the  Amer- 
icans have  no  natural  monopoly. 

"The  success  of  the  Americans,"  said  a  cultivated 
Jew,  who,  born  in  the  Old  World,  had  lived  for  some 
time  in  the  New,  "may  be  said  to  spring  from  two. 
causes.  The  first  is  that  of  the  concentration  of  the 
whole  genius  of  the  race  upon  industrial  pursuits.  In 
Germany,"  he  said,  "the  maintenance,  the  equipment, 
and  the  organization  of  the  army  diverts  to  the  study 
of  military  questions  an  immense  proportion  of  the 
genius  of  Germans. 

"In  Italy  and  France  the  genius  of  the  people  finds  its 
natural  vent  in  the  study  of  art,  or,  in  the  case  of  the 
Roman  Church,  in  theological  speculation  or  in  the 
management  of  an  immense  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion. In  England  there  is  a  great  scattering  of  energy. 
382 


The  Puritan  Spring 

The  genius  of  your  people  expends  itself  not  in  one, 
but  in  half-a-dozen  directions.  You  are  pre-occupied 
with  your  commerce,  with  your  colonies,  and  with 
your  navy. 

"You  have  built  up  a  great  literature,  and  you  have 
made  a  positive  cultus  of  sport.  But  in  the  United 
States  the  whole  undivided  genius  of  the  people  is 
concentrated  upon  the  pursuit  of  wealth.  Hence  this 
one  thing  they  do  and  do  with  all  their  might,  and 
therefore  easily  distance  all  competitors  whose  energies 
are  dissipated  upon  other  channels. 

"That  is  one  secret  of  American  success,"  he  con- 
tinued. "But  there  is  another  to  which  I  attach  even 
more  importance.  All  power  arises  from  restraint. 
Indulgence  is  the  dissipation  of  energy.  For  two 
hundred  years  in  the  New  England  States,  the  stern 
discipline  of  Puritan  morality,  repressed  with  iron 
hand  the  animal  instincts  which  lead  to  a  self-indulgent 
life. 

"Each  generation  which  lived  and  died  under  that 
yoke  lived  and  died  voluntarily  subjecting  itself  to  a 
sterner  restraint  than  that  imposed  on  any  nation  be- 
fore or  since.  But  it  accumulated  energy  which  it 
transmitted  to  its  descendants.  Now  in  our  day  we 
see  that  tremendous  spring  uncoiling  with  results  at 
which  all  the  world  wonders.  The  stock  of  energy 
which  the  New  Englanders  accumulated  in  two  cen- 
turies could  only  have  been  acquired,  as  great  for- 
tunes are  built  up,  by  long  years  of  self-denial,  patiently 
persisted  in  despite  all  temptations.  How  long  it  will 
last  is  another  question,  but  at  the  present  moment  we 

383 


Cobden's  Accurate  Prophecy 

can  see  no  sign  of  that  pent-up  reservoir  of  energy 
being  exhausted." 

This,  however,  does  not  help  us  much,  for  no  one  can 
improvise  ancestors  of  the  Puritan  type.  We  must, 
therefore,  look  further  afield  if  we  would  discover  any 
American  secret  by  which  we  may  profit. 

Within  this  narrowed  range  a  very  little  observa- 
tion will  lead  us  to  discover  three  of  the  American 
secrets  which  are  capable  of  export.  The  first  is 
Education ;  the  second  is  increased  incentives  to  Pro- 
duction ;  and  the  third  is  Democracy.  It  may  be  well 
to  examine  each  of  these  in  turn.  Nearly  seventy 
years  ago  when  Cobden  visited  the  United  States,  he 
laid  an  unerring  finger  upon  the  superior  education 
of  the  American  common  people  as  the  secret  of  their 
growing  ascendancy.  He  said : — 

"The  universality  of  education  in  the  United  States 
is  probably  more  calculated  than  all  others  to  acceler- 
ate their  progress  towards  a  superior  rank  of  civiliza- 
tion and  power.  One  thirty-sixth  portion  of  all  public 
lands,  of  which  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
square  miles  unappropriated,  is  laid  apart  for  the  pur- 
poses of  instruction.  If  knowledge  be  power,  and  if 
education  gives  knowledge,  then  must  the  Americans 
inevitably  become  the  most  powerful  people  in  the 
world.  The  very  genius  of  American  legislation  is 
opposed  to  ignorance  in  the  people,  as  the  most  deadly 
enemy  of  good  government.  .  .  .  There  is  now 
more  than  six  times  as  much  advertising  and  reading 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  in  Great  Britain. 
There  are  those  who  are  fond  of  decrying  newspaper- 

384 


The  American  Schoolhouse 

reading,  but  we  regard  every  scheme  that  is  calculated 
to  make  mankind  think,  everything  that  by  detaching 
the  mind  from  the  present  moment,  and  leading  it  to 
reflect  upon  the  past  or  future,  rescues  it  from  the 
dominion  of  mere  sense,  as  calculated  to  exalt  us  in 
the  scale  of  being,  and,  whether  it  be  a  newspaper  or 
a  volume  that  serves  this  end,  the  instrument  is  worthy 
of  honor  at  the  hands  of  enlightened  philanthropists." 

There  is  a  saying  of  Confucius,  which  was  often 
quoted  when  the  French  legions  went  down  before  the 
educated  Germans — that  he  who  leads  an  uneducated 
people  to  war  throws  them  away.  The  victories 
registered  on  French  battlefields  were  won  by  the  Ger- 
man schoolmasters ;  and  so  it  is  to  the  little  red  school- 
house  in  which  the  school-marm  taught  boys  and  girls 
together  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  that  we  must 
go  to  find  the  sceptre  of  the  American  dominion. 

It  is  little  more  than  thirty  years  'since  education 
became  compulsory  in  the  United  Kingdom ;  and  it  was 
in  still  more  recent  times  that  the  school-fees  were 
abolished.  But  education  has  been  universal,  free,  and 
compulsory  in  the  United  States  of  America  from  the 
very  foundation  of  the  New  England  Colonies.  The 
first  object  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  to  found  a  con- 
venticle in  which  they  could  worship  God  as  they 
thought  fit ;  but  after  the  founding  of  the  Church  their 
first  care  was  to  open  a  school.  Hence  the  average 
level  of  intelligence  in  the  United  States,  despite  the 
immense  influx  of  nineteen  millions  of  the  uneducated 
European  horde,  is  much  higher  than  it  is  with  us. 

In  that  vast  Republic  every  one  can  at  least  read 

355 


Educational  Figures 

and  write,  and  upon  that  basis  Americans  have  reared 
a  superstructure  of  educational  appliance  which  causes 
Englishmen  to  despair.  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  when 
he  visited  the  United  States  last  in  1900,  was  lost  in 
amazement  and  admiration  at  the  immense  energy  and 
lavish  magnificence  of  the  apparatus  of  education. 
"The  whole  educational  machinery  of  America,"  he 
said,  "must  be  at  least  tenfold  that  of  the  United  King- 
dom. That  open  to  women  must  be  at  least  twenty- 
fold  greater  than  with  us,  and  it  is  rapidly  advancing 
to  meet  that  of  men  both  in  numbers  and  quality." 

According  to  some  statistics  published  this  autumn 
by  the  Scientific  American,  there  are  629  universities 
and  colleges  in  the  United  States,  the  total  value  of 
whose  property  is  estimated  at  £68,000,000.  The  total 
income  was  over  $l/2  millions  sterling.  In  a  single 
year,  1898-99,  the  value  of  gifts  to  these  institutions 
amounted  to  £4,400,000.  The  number  of  students 
pursuing  undergraduate  and  graduate  courses  in  uni- 
versities, colleges,  and  schools  of  technology  was  147,- 
164.  Of  these  only  43,913  were  enrolled  as  students 
of  the  three  professions — law,  medicine,  and  theology. 
The  number  of  students  per  million,  which  stood  at 
573  in  1872,  rose  to  770  in  1880,  to  850  in  1890,  where- 
as in  1899  it  had  gone  up  to  1,196 — more  than  double  in 
twenty-eight  years. 

A  whole  volume  might  be  written  in  comparing  and 
contrasting  the  educational  systems  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  burden 
the  reader  with  statistics.  American  superiority,  as 
attested  by  statistics,  has  its  root  in  one  fundamental 
386 


The  Contrast  in  Britain 

difference  between  the  two  nations.  In  America  every- 
body, from  the  richest  to  the  poorest,  considers  that 
education  is  a  boon,  a  necessity  of  life,  and  the  more 
education  they  get  the  better  it  is  for  the  whole 
country. 

In  Great  Britain,  Sir  John  Gorst  himself  being  wit- 
ness, the  educated  classes  regard  education  as  unneces- 
sary for  the  laboring  classes.  The  country  squire  and, 
broadly  speaking,  the  class  which  dresses  for  dinner, 
are  of  opinion  that  those  who  do  not  dress  for  dinner 
are  better  without  education.  Sir  John  Gorst,  the 
Minister  officially  responsible  for  British  education, 
has  affirmed  this  in  terms  which  leave  no  room  for 
mistake. 

It  is  this  which  differentiates  the  Briton  from  the 
American.  Our  men  of  light  and  leading,  those  who 
have  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of  superior  educa- 
tion, who  monopolize  the  immense  endowments  of  the 
ancient  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  resent 
the  demand  that  the  children  of  the  agricultural 
laborer  or  the  costermonger  should  receive  the  best 
education  that  the  State  can  give  them. 

Education  in  this  country  is  not  regarded  as  a  good 
investment.  Hence  it  is  that,  while  American  million- 
aires find  pleasure  in  lavishing  millions  in  the  endow- 
ment of  universities  and  technical  schools  and  the  pro- 
vision of  educational  apparatus,  the  bequests  to  edu- 
cation in  this  country  amount  to  a  beggarly  sum. 
Mr.  Carnegie,  born  a  Scotchman,  but  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  the  States,  has  given  more  money  for  the 
endowment  of  university  education  in  a  single  check 

387 


^Productive  Power  Compared 

than  all  our  millionaires  have  given  to  our  universities 
for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 

Until  a  change  comes  over  the  spirit  of  our  country, 
and  Society  with  a  big  S  recognizes  that  unless  our 
people  are  educated  the  game  is  up,  we  shall  not  see 
any  material  improvement.  The  future  belongs  not 
to  brawn  but  to  brain,  and  the  nation  which  ignores 
both,  as  we  unfortunately  are  doing  at  this  moment, 
will  inevitably  go  to  the  wall.  It  may  be  said  that  it 
is  no  use  looking  for  the  conversion  of  our  governing 
classes. 

Until  our  working  people  who  have  a  vote  determine 
to  use  it  to  compel  Parliament  to  give  every  English 
workman's  child  as  good  an  education  and  as  fair  a 
chance  of  making  his  way  to  a  university  career  (if  he 
is  bright  enough)  as  he  would  have  if  he  emigrated  to 
the  United  States,  nothing  will  be  done. 

Secondly,  Incentives  to  increased  productive  power. 
The  second  cause  of  American  success,  which  we  could 
appropriate  if  we  pleased,  is  that  of  improved  methods 
of  production.  We  want  more  machinery,  better  ma- 
chinery, and  we  must  not  stint  its  output.  The  old 
spirit  which  led  to  the  machine  riots  in  the  West  Rid- 
ing of  Yorkshire  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  is 
still  latent  in  the  British  workman. 

There  is  no  need  to  go  into  old  sores  or  to  enter 
upon  disputed  ground,  but  it  is  unfortunately  no 
longer  disputable  that  our  industrial  progress  is 
hampered  in  two  directions,  first,  by  the  reluctance  of 
the  employer  to  invest  in  new  machinery,  and,  secondly, 
by  a  belief  on  the  part  of  many  workmen  that  the  less 
388 


Labor-Saving  Machinery 

work  each  man  does  the  more  work  there  is  for  some- 
body else. 

The  difficulty  about  machinery  arises  largely  from 
the  English  prejudice  in  favor  of  good,  solid  machines 
which,  if  once  built,  will  last  for  a  long  time.  The 
American  deliberately  puts  in  flimsy  machinery  which 
will  wear  out,  as  he  calculates  that  by  the  time  he  has 
got  all  the  work  out  of  his  machine  that  it  will  stand, 
new  improvements  will  have  been  invented  which  will 
necessitate  in  any  case  the  purchase  of  new  machinery. 
Hence  he  buys  a  cheaper  article,  uses  it  up  quickly,  and 
then  gets  a  new  one  with  the  latest  improvements. 
The  Briton  finds  that  he  has  a  machine  almost  as  good 
as  new  when  the  American  machine  is  worn  out,  and  is 
loth  to  cast  it  on  one  side. 

There  is  a  certain  objection  to  labor-saving  machines 
on  the  part  of  many  workmen,  who  regard  all  such 
machines  as  the  owners  of  stage-coaches  regarded  loco- 
motives. It  is  calculated  that  every  locomotive  that  is 
turned  out  of  an  engine-shop  makes  work  for  as  many 
horses  as  the  horse-power  which  it  represents,  and 
there  has  never  been  so  much  demand  for  labor  as 
since  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery  be- 
came universal. 

The  popular  fallacy  that  contrivances  which  econ- 
omize labor  make  less  work  for  the  laborer  was  never 
so  aptly  illustrated  as  in  the  story  of  the  Tsar  and  the 
Dutch  Ambassador,  who  met  in  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury on  the  banks  of  the  Volga.  Great  barges  were 
being  towed  up  the  stream  by  gangs  of  200  moujiks, 
who  were  harnessed  to  the  tow-rope,  and  so,  with  infin- 

3S9 


The  Laborer  Against  Himself 

ite  expenditure  of  sweat  and  sinew,  they  hauled  their 
clumsy  craft  at  the  rate  of  about  two  miles  an  hour. 

The  Dutchman  addressed  the  Tsar  and  respectfully 
ventured  to  point  out  to  him  that  with  his  permission 
he  (the  Dutchman)  could  rig  up  a  mast  and  a  sail 
which  would  enable  the  wind  to  drive  the  boat  much 
more  swiftly  through  the  water  without  any  need  for 
this  costly  human  haulage.  The  Tsar  listened  for  a 
moment  and  then  sternly  reproved  the  adventurous 
Dutchman.  "How  dare  you,"  he  said,  "propose  to  me 
to  adopt  a  contrivance  which  would  take  the  bread  out 
of  the  mouths  of  these  poor  fellows  ?" 

And  so  the  moujiks  went  on  with  their  hauling. 
Every  one  sees  the  absurdity  of  such  a  reply,  but  at 
bottom  it  is  exactly  the  same  spirit  which  inspires  the 
objection  to  machines  which  economize  labor. 

This,  however,  is  a  less  danger  than  the  spirit,  to 
which  a  good  deal  of  attention  has  been  called  of  late 
by  articles  in  the  Times  and  elsewhere,  which  leads 
workmen  deliberately  to  dawdle  over  their  work  with 
the  idea  that  the  less  work  each  man  does  the  more 
work  there  will  be  for  his  mate.  The  same  spirit 
shows  itself  in  the  extreme  punctiliousness  with  which 
workmen  will  insist  upon  never  doing  anything  but 
their  own  particular  job,  under  no  matter  what  stress 
of  emergency. 

In  some  industries  we  have  almost  arrived  at  the 
extreme  division  of  labor  that  prevails  in  India,  which 
necessitates  the  employment  of  twenty  servants  to  do 
the  work  of  three.  The  folly  of  this  deliberate  limita- 
tion of  output  is  recognized  by  the  more  intelligent 
390 


Profit-Sharing  and  Trade  Unions 

leaders  of  the  working  classes,  and  the  experience  of 
the  Westinghouse  Company  at  their  new  Manchester 
works  is  full  of  hope.  By  the  introduction  of  Amer- 
ican foremen,  and  by  a  frank  and  candid  explanation 
to  the  workmen  of  what  was  wanted,  the  Americans 
declared  that  they  found  no  difficulty  in  getting  as 
much  good  work  out  of  Englishmen  in  England  as 
they  are  always  able  to  get  out  of  Englishmen  when 
they  emigrate  to  America. 

But  we  cannot  man  all  our  works  with  American 
foremen,  nor  is  it  desirable  that  the  English  in  their 
own  country  should  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  Gibeon- 
ites,  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for 
the  superior  race.  By  far  the  best  way  of  overcom- 
ing this  difficulty  is  by  the  introduction  of  some  method 
of  co-partnership,  or  of  profit-sharing,  which  would 
make  every  workman  feel  that  he  had  a  personal  inter- 
est in  the  prosperity  of  the  concern. 

At  present  he  feels  too  often  that  he  has  nothing 
personally  to  gain  by  putting  his  back  into  his  work. 
The  shareholder  and  not  the  workman  reaps  the  benefit 
of  increased  efficiency.  To  get  round  that  difficulty 
is  not  impossible,  as  the  experience  of  Mr.  George 
Livesey  in  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas  Company 
shows.  Profit-sharing  is  the  first,  co-partnership  the 
second,  and  co-operative  production  the  third  step 
which  will  lead  us  out  of  the  morass  in  which  we  are 
at  present  floundering. 

The  experience  of  Co-operative  Works  at  Leicester, 
and  the  neighborhood  justifies  confident  expectations 
as  to  the  excellent  results  which  would  follow  if  the 

39J 


The  British  Employers 

consciousness  of  mutual  interest  were  the  rule  instead 
of  the  exception  in  British  industry. 

Neither  here  nor  in  the  United  States  can  we  hope 
to  put  the  tremendous  premium  upon  individual  effort 
which  was  offered  in  the  early  days  of  American 
industry.  The  trade  union  is  likely  to  become  more 
rather  than  less  powerful  in  the  days  that  are  to  come. 
It  appeals  very  strongly  to  the  Socialist  aspirations 
which  seem  likely,  in  America,  as  well  as  in  this 
country,  to  be  an  increasing  factor  in  the  organization 
of  industry;  but  that  is  no  reason  why  the  trade 
unions  should  not  provide  for  the  encouragement  of 
individual  capacity  among  their  own  members. 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake,  however,  to  think  that 
trade  unions  are  the  only  obstacle.  We  have  to  face 
the  reluctance  on  the  part  of  employers  to  recognize 
that  their  workmen  have  brains  which  could  be  utilized. 
The  American  workman  who  suggests  an  improve- 
ment in  the  machinery  which  he  is  working,  is  en- 
couraged and  rewarded.  In  England  he  is  too  often 
told  to  mind  his  own  business. 

And  as  it  is  with  the  employers,  so  it  is  with  the 
law  of  the  land.  Our  patent  laws,  instead  of  encour- 
aging invention  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  brains 
but  no  money,  absolutely  handicap  the  poor  man,  and 
leave  him  helpless  to  profit  by  his  own  inventions. 
Sir  John  Leng,  in  a  recent  address  at  Dundee,  brought 
out  very  clearly  this  contrast  between  the  American 
and  British  systems. 

The  American  patent  law  secures  a  patentee  protec- 
tion for  seventeen  years  for  a  total  cost  of  £8.  To 
392 


Ambassador  Choate's  Declaration 

secure  a  patent  for  fourteen  years  in  this  country  re- 
quires an  expenditure  of  £99.  The  American  Patent 
Office  makes  a  fairly  thorough  examination  of  a 
patent,  and,  if  required,  the  applicant  is  assisted  to  put 
his  application  into  proper  shape.  With  this  stim- 
ulus to  invention,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  inventive 
genius  of  the  American  has  outstripped  that  of  the  Old 
World.  Fortunately  this  can  be  remedied,  for  our 
Patent  Office  is  one  of  those  institutions  which  can  be 
Americanized  with  the  greatest  ease. 

The  third  cause  of  American  success  which  we  can 
also  appropriate  is  that  which  comes  from  the  frank 
adoption  and  consistent  application  of  the  principle  of 
democracy.  Mr.  Choate,  the  American  Ambassador 
at  the  Court  of  St.  James',  recently  declared  in  a  pub- 
lic speech  at  New  York : — 

"After  all  that  I  have  seen  of  other  countries,  it  seems  to 
me  absolutely  clear  that  the  cardinal  principle  upon  which 
American  institutions  rest,  the  absolute  political  equality  of 
all  citizens  with  universal  suffrage,  is  the  secret  of  Ameri- 
can success.  Aided  by  that  comprehensive  system  of  educa- 
tion, which  enables  every  citizen  to  pursue  his  calling  and 
exercise  the  franchise,  it  puts  the  country  on  that  plane  of 
success  which  it  has  reached." 

"I  have  no  doubt,"  said  De  Tocqueville  more  than 
sixty  years  ago,  "that  the  democratic  institutions  of 
the  United  States,  joined  to  the  physical  constitution 
of  the  country,  are  the  cause  (not  the  direct,  as  is  so 
often  asserted,  but  the  indirect  cause)  of  the  pro- 
digious commercial  activity  of  the  inhabitants." 

He  adds,  further  on :  "Democracy  does  not  give  the 
people  the  most  skilful  government,  but  it  produces 

393 


Triumphant  Democracy 

what  the  ablest  governments  are  frequently  unable  to 
create :  namely,  a  superabundant  force,  and  an  energy 
which  is  inseparable  from  it,  and  which  may,  however 
unfavorable  circumstances  may  be,  produce  wonders." 

As  to  the  influence  of  democratic  institutions  upon 
the  inventive  ingenuity  and  energy  of  a  people,  Mr. 
Wideneos  of  Philadelphia,  discussing  the  connection 
between  democracy  and  business,  recently  said  to  Mr. 
W.  E.  Curtis  :— 

"Our  greatest  success  in  industry  and  commerce  has 
been  due  to  the  higher  intelligence  and  better  educa- 
tion of  the  American  working  man.  The  United 
States  is  a  democracy  where  everybody  has  a  chance, 
and  that  inspires  ambition.  Look  at  the  list  of  men 
who  control  business  affairs  in  that  country.  Nine 
of  every  ten  of  them  began  at  the  bottom  and  in  a  small 
way,  but  the  road  was  open  to  everybody  and  the  best 
man  got  there  first. 

"In  England  the  opportunities  are  comparatively 
limited,  and  the  lower  classes  have  no  inspiration ;  no 
inducement  to  save  their  money  and  improve  them- 
selves. There  is  no  use  in  a  boy  educating  himself  for 
better  things  when  he  cannot  get  them.  The  very  best 
of  us  are  from  the  bottom.  Some  of  our  biggest 
swells  had  fathers  who  worked  for  days'  wages.  Yet 
that  was  no  handicap.  They  gave  them  good  consti- 
tutions, good  educations  and  opportunities.  Such  men 
now  command  the  financial,  commercial  and  political 
world." 

We  have  democratized  our  institutions  piecemeal, 
but  we  are  still  far  short  of  applying  the  principle  thor- 
394 


Britain's  Necessity 

oughly  in  such  fashion  as  to  make  every  man  feel 
the  stimulus  of  equality  of  responsibility,  equality  of 
opportunity. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  this  in  detail,  but  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  at  the  present  moment  the  only 
governing  institutions  in  this  country  in  which  we  can 
pretend  to  be  ahead  of  the  United  States  are  our 
municipalities,  where  the  principle  of  democracy  has 
been  carried  out  much  more  thoroughly  than  in  the 
Imperial  Parliament. 

Imagine  the  London  County  Council  saddled  with  a 
Second  Chamber,  three-fourths  of  whom  were  the 
ground  landlords  of  London,  with  a  right  of  veto  upon 
every  measure  passed  by  the  County  Council !  Could 
anything  be  suggested  more  certain  to  choke  the  civic 
spirit  which  has  given  new  life  to  London  in  the  last 
ten  years?  Aristocratic  institutions,  no  doubt,  have 
their  advantages,  but  they  do  not  tend  to  develop  in 
the  mass  of  the  people  a  keen  sense  of  citizenship. 
They  effectively  paralyze  that  consciousness  of  individ- 
ual power  which  gives  so  great  and  constant  a  stim- 
ulus to  the  energy  and  self-respect  of  the  citizens  of 
the  Republic. 


395 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Second 

A  Look  Ahead 

WHAT  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter?  It 
may  be  stated  in  a  sentence.  There  lies  before  the 
people  of  Great  Britain  a  choice  of  two  alternatives. 
If  they  decide  to  merge  the  existence  of  the  British 
Empire  in  the  United  States  of  the  English-speaking 
World,  they  may  continue  for  all  time  to  be  an  integral 
part  of  the  greatest  of  all  World-Powers,  supreme  on 
sea  and  unassailable  on  land,  permanently  delivered 
from  all  fear  of  hostile  attack,  and  capable  of  wielding 
irresistible  influence  in  all  parts  of  this  planet. 

That  is  one  alternative.  The  other  is  the  acceptance 
of  our  supersession  by  the  United  States  as  the  centre 
of  gravity  in  the  English-speaking  world,  the  loss  one 
by  one  of  our  great  colonies,  and  our  ultimate  reduc- 
tion to  the  status  of  an  English-speaking  Belgium. 
One  or  the  other  it  must  be.  Which  shall  it  be  ?  Sel- 
dom has  a  more  momentous  choice  been  presented  to 
the  citizens  of  any  country. 

It  is  natural  that  British  pride  should  revolt  at  the 
conclusion  which  is  thus  presented  as  the  result  of  a 
396 


The  United  States  of  the  World 

rapid  survey  of  the  forces  governing  the  present 
political  and  financial  and  industrial  situation.  But 
pride  and  prejudice  are  evil  counsellors.  The  ques- 
tion is  not  what  we  would  best  like  to  do,  but  what  is 
the  best  course  possible  in  the  circumstances? 

If  it  is  admitted  that  the  whole  trend  of  our  time  is 
towards  the  unification  of  races  of  a  common  stock  and 
common  language;  if  it  is  further  admitted  that  such 
unification  would  carry  with  it  incalculable  advantages 
in  securing  the  English-speaking  nations  from  all 
danger  either  of  a  fratricidal  conflict  or  of  foreign  at- 
tack, while  enormously  improving  both  their  prosperity 
at  home  and  the  influence  which  they  can  exercise 
abroad,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  the 
object  is  one  well  worthy  of  being  made  the  ultimate 
goal  of  the  statesmen  both  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  United  Kingdom. 

That  it  is  possible  to  constitute  as  one  vast  feder- 
ated unity  the  English-speaking  United  States  of  the 
World,  can  hardly  be  disputed.  That  there  are  diffi- 
culties, immense  difficulties,  is  equally  true;  but  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  these  difficulties  did  not  appear 
insuperable  to  Adam  Smith,  who  wrote  nearly  a  hun- 
dred years  before  the  Atlantic  had  been  bridged  by 
steam.  It  is  worth  while  recalling  his  profound  and 
luminous  observations  in  the  first  edition  of  his 
"Wealth  of  Nations,"  which  was  published  in  1776, 
on  the  very  eve  of  the  revolt  of  the  American  Colonies. 

At  that  time,  the  great  schism  had  not  occurred 
which  has  for  more  than  a  century  banished  the  idea 
from  the  minds  of  man;  but  the  recent  and  welcome 

397 


Adam  Smith's  Suggestion 

rapprochement  which  has  ta£en  place  between  the 
British  and  American  peoples  renders  it  possible  for 
us  to  get  back  to  the  standpoint  of  Adam  Smith.  He 
contemplated  the  union  of  Great  Britain  with  her 
American  Colonies  by  admitting  representatives  from 
those  Colonies  to  the  Imperial  Parliament.  For,  as 
he  says  in  words  which  are  as  true  to-day  as  they  were 
then  :— 

"The  assembly  which  deliberates  and  decides  con- 
cerning the  affairs  of  every  part  of  the  Empire,  in 
order  to  be  properly  informed,  ought  certainly  to  have 
representatives  from  every  part  of  it." 

He  admitted  that  there  were  difficulties,  but  denied 
that  they  were  insurmountable. 

"The  principal  difficulty,"  he  said,  "arises,  not  from 
the  nature  of  things,  but  from  the  prejudices  and 
opinions  of  the  people  both  on  this  side  and  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic." 

He  then  dealt  briefly  with  some  of  the  objections 
that  were  urged,  objections  which  the  lapse  of  time 
has  answered  so  effectually  that  we  need  not  even  refer 
to  them  here.  But  in  combating  one  of  these  objec- 
tions that  might  be  raised  by  the  Americans — that  their 
distance  from  the  seat  of  Government  might  expose 
them  to  many  oppressions — he  used  the  following  re- 
markable words : — 

"The  distance  of  America  from  the  seat  of  Govern- 
ment the  natives  of  that  country  might  flatter  them- 
selves, with  some  appearance  of  reason,  too,  would 
not  be  of  a  very  long  continuance.  Such  has  hitherto 
been  the  rapid  progress  of  that  country  in  wealth,  pop- 
398 


Confirmed  by  Rosebery 

ulation,  and  improvement  that,  in  the  course  of  little 
more  than  a  century,  perhaps,  the  produce  of  Amer- 
ican might  exceed  that  of  British  taxation.  The  seat 
of  the  Empire  would  then  naturally  remove  itself  to 
that  part  of  the  Empire  which  contributes  most  to  the 
general  defence  and  support  of  the  whole." 

The  Imperial  idea,  therefore,  before  the  disruption 
of  the  Empire,  contemplated  that  if  the  Empire  held 
together,  its  capital  in  the  course  of  time  would  be 
transferred  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New. 

The  same  idea  was  expressed  the  other  day  with 
much  greater  eloquence  by  Lord  Rosebery  in  his  ad- 
dress as  Lord  Rector  to  the  students  of  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity. Going  back  to  the  time  when  Adam  Smith 
wrote,  Lord  Rosebery  allowed  his  imagination  to  dwell 
upon  what  might  have  been  the  results  to  the  English- 
speaking  race  if  the  elder  Pitt  had  prevented  or  sup- 
pressed the  reckless  budget  of  Charles  Townshend, 
induced  George  III.  to  listen  to  reason,  and  by  intro- 
ducing representatives  from  the  American  Colonies 
into  the  Imperial  Parliament,  preserved  America  to 
the  British  Crown.  Had  such  a  measure  been  passed, 
he  said, 

"It  would  have  provided  for  some  self-adjusting 
system  of  representation,  such  as  now  prevails  in  the 
United  States,  by  which  increasing  population  is  pro- 
portionally represented." 

He  then  proceeded : — 

"At  last,  when  the  Americans  became  the  majority, 
the  seat  of  Empire  would,  perhaps,  have  been  moved 
solemnly  across  the  Atlantic,  Great  Britain  have  be- 

399 


An  Inspiring  Hypothesis 

come  the  historical  shrine  and  the  European  outpost 
of  the  World-empire.  What  an  extraordinary  revo- 
lution it  would  have  been  had  it  been  accomplished! 
The  greatest  known  without  bloodshed,  the  most  sub- 
lime transference  of  power  in  the  history  of  mankind. 
Our  conceptions  can  hardly  picture  the  procession 
across  the  Atlantic.  The  greatest  Sovereign  in  the 
greatest  fleet  in  the  universe,  Ministers,  Government, 
Parliament,  departing  solemnly  for  the  other  hemi- 
sphere, not  as  in  the  case  of  the  Portuguese  sovereign 
emigrating  to  Brazil  under  the  spur  of  necessity,  but 
under  the  vigorous  embrace  of  the  younger  world." 

He  admitted  that  the  result  was  one  to  which  we 
could  scarcely  acclimatize  ourselves  even  in  idea,  but 
he  went  on  to  speculate  upon  some  of  the  consequences 
that  would  have  happened  from  so  blessed  a  consum- 
mation : — 

"America  would  have  hung  on  the  skirts  of  Britain, 
and  pulled  her  back  out  of  European  complications. 
She  would  have  profoundly  affected  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  Mother  Country  in  the  direction  of  peace.  Her 
influence  in  our  domestic  policy  would  have  been 
scarcely  less  potent.  It  might  probably  have  appeased 
and  even  contented  Ireland.  The  ancient  constitution 
of  Great  Britain  would  have  been  rendered  more  com- 
prehensive and  more  elastic.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
American  yearning  for  liberty  would  have  taken  a 
different  form.  It  would  have  blended  with  other 
traditions  and  flowed  into  other  molds ;  and  above  all, 
had  there  been  no  suppression  there  would  have  been 
no  war  of  Independence,  no  war  of  1812,  with  all  the 
400 


Anglo-American  Unification 

bitter  memories  that  these  have  left  on  American  soil. 
To  secure  that  priceless  boon  I  should  have  been  satis- 
fied to  see  the  British  Federal  Parliament  sitting  in 
Columbian  territory.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  dam  the 
flow  of  ideas  in  dealing  with  so  pregnant  a  possibility." 

The  question  which  it  is  my  purpose  to  raise  in  the 
present  treatise  is  whether  the  realization  of  Lord 
Rosebery's  dream  is  even  now  outside  the  pale  of  prac- 
tical politics.  Would  not  the  gain  of  the  establishment 
of  a  Federal  Parliament  of  the  English-speaking  race 
on  American  soil  more  than  compensate  us  for  any 
loss  of  what  may  be  described  as  the  parochial  prestige 
of  the  insular  Briton? 

Ireland  still  has  to  be  contented;  the  British  Con- 
stitution, for  lack  of  elasticity,  has  become  practically 
unworkable;  the  Imperial  Parliament  shows  no  sign 
of  being  able  to  admit  representatives  from  the 
distant  Colonies ;  and  danger  of  collision  between  the 
Empire  and  the  Republic,  although  masked  by  present 
appearance,  automatically  increases  as  the  over-sea 
ambitions  of  the  United  States  develop  and  expand. 

In  its  original  shape,  of  course,  Lord  Rosebery's 
vision  can  never  be  realized.  The  possibility  of  uniting 
the  whole  English-speaking  world  under  the  segis  of 
the  scepter  of  a  British  sovereign,  perished  for  ever 
when  George  III.  made  war  upon  the  American 
Colonies. 

But  because  our  forefathers  by  their  prejudice  and 
passion  wrecked  the  possibility  of  realizing  the  great 
ideal,  that  is  no  reason  why  we,  their  sons,  should  not 
endeavor  to  undo  the  evil  results  of  their  folly  by  at- 

401 


Lord  Derby's  Ideal 

tempting  to  secure  the  unification  of  the  race  by  the 
only  means  which  are  still  available.  Unification 
under  the  Union  Jack  having  become  impossible  by 
our  own  mistakes,  why  should  we  not  seek  unification 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes? 

We  could,  of  course,  keep  the  Union  Jack  as  a  local 
flag,  as  in  a  Federated  South  Africa  we  could  permit 
the  burghers  of  the  Transvaal  to  keep  the  Vierkleur. 
It  possesses  a  historical  interest,  and  is  instinct  with 
too  many  heroic  memories  for  it  to  be  allowed  to  pass 
for  ever  from  sea  or  shore.  But  the  day  has  passed 
when  the  meteor  flag  of  England  could  stand  any 
chance  of  being  accepted  by  the  majority  of  English- 
speaking  men.  In  such  matters  the  majority  must 
decide.  Not  only  are  we  already  in  a  minority  of 
nearly  one  to  two,  but  the  majority  tends  every  year 
to  increase.  Are  we  as  a  nation  incapable  of  facing 
the  inevitable  and  of  governing  our  course  in  accord- 
ance therewith? 

Many  years  ago  when  the  late  Earl  of  Derby  was 
Colonial  Minister  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  Cabinet,  he  dis- 
cussed this  question  with  Dr.  E.  J.  Dillon,  now  well 
known  as  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Telegraph.  Dr. 
Dillon  asked  him  as  a  former  foreign  Minister  of  Great 
Britain,  what  he  thought  should  be  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  Empire.  Lord  Derby  replied  that  he  thought 
it  would  be  best  for  the  country  to  have  no  foreign 
policy  at  all,  which  led  Dr.  Dillon  to  ask  what  then  did 
he  contemplate  as  the  goal  of  British  policy  in  the 
future.  Lord  Derby  replied: — 

"The  highest  ideal  that  I  can  look  forward  to  in  the 
402 


Cecils  Rhodes'  Pole-Star 

future  of  my  country  is  that  the  time  may  come  when 
we  may  be  admitted  into  the  American  Union  as 
States  in  one  great  Federation." 

It  may  be  said  that  Lord  Derby  was  a  Little  Eng- 
lander,  and  therefore  out  of  court.  But  this  objection 
cannot  be  brought  against  Mr.  Rhodes,  who  is  a  Big 
Englander  if  ever  there  was  one,  and  who  more  than 
any  man  in  our  time  incarnates  the  spirit  of  British 
Imperialism.  But  Mr.  Rhodes,  although  he  would 
not  adopt  the  terms  of  Lord  Derby's  declaration,  is 
absolutely  at  one  with  him  on  the  main  point. 

Mr.  Rhodes  would  undoubtedly  much  prefer  to  see 
the  English-speaking  race  unified  under  the  Union 
Jack,  for  his  devotion  to  the  old  flag  approaches  to  a 
passion.  But  Mr.  Rhodes's  pole  star  has  ever  been  the 
unity  of  the  English-speaking  race.  No  one  can  talk 
to  him  for  long  without  coming  upon  the  sentiment 
which  is  ever  present  in  his  mind,  of  a  deep  and  al- 
most angry  regret  over  the  fatal  folly  which  rent  the 
race  in  twain  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

How  often  have  I  not  heard  him  deplore  the  in- 
sensate folly  which  robbed  the  world  of  its  one  great 
hope  of  universal  peace.  Only  this  year  he  inveighed, 
as  is  his  wont,  against  the  madness  of  the  monarch 
which  had  wrecked  the  fairest  prospect  of  international 
peace  which  had  ever  dawned  upon  the  world. 

"If  only  we  had  held  together,"  he  remarked, 
"there  would  have  been  no  need  for  another  cannon  to 
be  cast  in  the  whole  world.  The  Federation  of  the 
English-speaking  world  would  be  strong  enough  in 
its  command  of  all  the  material  resources  of  the  planet 

403 


A  Fascinating  Ideal 

to  compel  the  decision  of  all  international  quarrels  by 
a  more  rational  method  than  that  of  war." 

Nor  has  he  abandoned  the  hope  that  even  yet  that 
great  Federation  may  be  brought  about.  He  would, 
no  doubt,  shrink  frpm  boldly  adopting  the  formula 
that,  if  it  could  not  be  secured  in  any  other  way  than 
by  the  admission  of  the  various  parts  of  the  British 
Empire  as  States  of  the  American  Union,  it  had  better 
be  brought  about  in  that  way  than  not  at  all. 

He  has  so  intense  a  longing  to  realize  the  unity  of 
the  race  that,  being  a  practical  man,  and  resolute  to 
attain  his  end  by  some  road,  if  that  which  he  has  chosen 
is  absolutely  impassable,  he  can  be  counted  upon  as 
one  of  the  great  personal  forces  which  would  co- 
operate in  the  attainment  of  our  ideal. 

The  subject  is  not  one  upon  which  politicians  are 
likely  to  talk.  Any  utterance  in  favor  of  coming  to- 
gether under  the  American  flag  could  so  easily  be  mis- 
represented by  a  political  opponent  as  an  act  of  treason 
to  the  Union  Jack,  that  men  whose  horizon  is  limited 
to  the  next  General  Election  naturally  refrain  from 
expressing  any  opinion  on  the  subject. 

But,  privately,  no  one  who  moves  in  political  and 
journalistic  circles  can  ignore  the  fact  that  many  of 
the  strongest  Imperialists  are  heart  and  soul  in  favor 
of  seeing  the  British  Empire  and  the  American  Repub- 
lic merged  in  the  English-speaking  United  States  of 
the  World.  This  is  an  ideal  splendid  enoueh  to 
fascinate  the  imagination  of  all  men,  especially  of  those 
who  have  proved  most  susceptible  to  the  fascination  of 
Imperial  Federation. 
404 


Uncertainties  of  Race  Unity 

But  here  it  is  necessary  to  observe  that,  while  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  there  may  be  a  great  latent 
but  powerful  sentiment  in  favor  of  such  reunion,  it 
will  come  to  nothing  unless  it  is  reciprocated  by  sim- 
ilar sentiments  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  We 
may  be  willing  to  make  great  sacrifices  of  national 
prejudice  and  Imperial  pride  in  order  to  attain  this 
greater  ideal,  but  will  the  Americans  be  equally  fas- 
cinated by  the  ideal  of  race  unity? 

The  United  States,  it  is  said  by  some,  is  quite  big 
enough  to  take  care  of  itself.  It  has  no  longer  any 
need  of  a  British  alliance,  which  might  entail  consider- 
able complications  and  involve  the  Republic  in 
entanglements  from  which  the  Americans  might  not 
unnaturally  recoil. 

The  subject  is  not  one  upon  which  the  Americans  can 
very  well  take  the  initiative.  The  suggestion  has 
even  offended  some  Americans,  as  indicating  possibil- 
ities altogether  beyond  their  reach.  There  is  very 
little  evidence,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  as  to  what 
would  be  the  probable  attitude  of  the  masses  of  the 
American  people  should  this  question  be  raised  in  a 
practical  shape. 

I  had,  however,  an  opportunity  of  discussing  the 
matter  quite  recently  with  two  typical  Americans,  who 
were  singularly  well  placed  for  forming  a  judgment 
upon  the  matter.  One,  born  in  Scotland,  had  become 
a  naturalized  American  citizen.  The  other,  born  in 
America,  had  become  a  naturalized  British  subject. 
The  former  had  been  all  his  life  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  peace.  The  other  has  made  his  fortune  by  the  suc- 

405 


Sir  Hiram  Maxim 

cess  with  which  he  has  manufactured  arms  of  war. 
But  upon  this  question  they  are  absolutely  at  one. 

Sir  Hiram  Maxim  and  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  are 
both  men  whose  maturity  of  judgment  and  wide  ex- 
perience of  men  entitk  them  to  be  heard  with  respect 
upon  any  subject  to  which  they  have  given  serious 
attention.  Sir  Hiram  Maxim  wrote  me  as  recently 
as  November  8th,  1901,  after  we  had  discussed  the 
subject  for  some  time : — 

"I  have  thought  much  of  the  long  and  interesting 
conversation  I  had  with  you  yesterday,  and  although 
I  do  not  hope  to  live  to  see  the  consummation  of  what 
was  foreshadowed  by  you,  still  I  should  not  wonder 
if  the  baby  was  already  born  who  will  witness  the 
whole  English-speaking  race  consolidated  in  some 
great  federation  forming  the  greatest,  richest,  and  the 
most  powerful  nation  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 
I  think  it  is  true  that  it  is  sure  to  come;  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time  and  civilization." 

I  saw  Mr.  Carnegie  on  October  25th,  1901,  just 
before  he  left  London  for  New  York.  Mr.  Carnegie 
is  a  remarkable  man  in  many  ways,  but  he  is  absolutely 
unique  in  being  at  once  a  prophet  and  a  millionaire. 
It  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  in  which 
the  two  roles  have  been  played  by  a  single  man.  Mr. 
Carnegie  said  to  me : — 

"Turn  up  my  'Look  Ahead'  which  I  published  in  the  North 
American  Review  eight  years  ago,  and  you  will  find  every 
forecast  which  I  made  then  is  coming  true.  You  remember, 
I  told  you  that  when  you  sat  down  to  your  desk  to  write  that 
chapter,  I  was  inclined  to  believe  that  the  whole  scheme  was 
somewhat  visionary,  but  that  when  I  sent  the  manuscript  I 

406 


Frank  Stockton's  Story 

was  convinced  that  there  was  nothing  more  practical  or 
more  important  pressing  upon  the  attention  of  statesmen. 
Well,  eight  years  have  passed  since  then,  and  now  when  I 
take  a  look  backwards,  at  my  old  article,  'Look  Ahead,'  I 
am  more  than  ever  impressed  with  the  soundness  of  the 
views  which  I  there  set  out.  We  are  heading  straight  to 
the  Re-United  States.  Everything  is  telling  that  way.  Your 
people  are  only  beginning  to  wake  up  10  the  irresistible 
drift  of  forces  which  dominate  the  situation. 

"It  is  coming,  coming  faster  than  you  people  in  the  Old 
World  realize.  Mr.  Frank  Stockton  was  down  at  Skibo  this 
year,  and  he  told  rather  a  good  story  bearing  upon  this 
question.  When  he  was  coming  down  in  the  train,  he  fore- 
gathered with  an  Englishman,  whom  he  met  in  the  train, 
and  they  got  talking  about  various  things,  and  the  English- 
man expressed  what  is  now  a  very  common  sentiment  among 
your  people — great  regret  at  the  folly  of  George  III.  'Just 
think  what  he  cost  us,'  said  the  Englishman.  'Why,  he  cost 
us  America.'  'But,'  said  Mr.  Stockton,  'you  must  not 
forget  what  he  cost  us.'  'Cost  you,'  said  the  Englishman. 
'What  did  he  cost  you  ?'  'He  cost  us  Britain,'  said  Mr.  Stock- 
ton. And  there  is  the  whole  truth  in  a  nutshell.  If  we  had 
all  continued  together,  Britain  would  have  belonged  to 
America,  much  more  than  America  would  have  belonged  to 
Britain,  and  it  will  come  to  that  yet." 

The  theme  is  a  favorite  one  with  Mr.  Carnegie.  He 
may  indeed  be  regarded  as  the  leading  exponent  of  the 
idea.  In  his  "Triumphant  Democracy,"  he  maintained 
that  the  American  Constitution  offered  a  much  better, 
freer,  and  at  the  same  time  more  supple  system  of 
government  than  that  which  prevailed  in  the  Old 
Country.  He  summarized  under  seventeen  separate 
heads  the  reasons  why  he  thought  the  leadership  of 
the  English-speaking  world  must  belong  to  America. 
Some  of  these  relating  to  things  political  and  consti- 
tutional may  be  quoted  here : — 

(7)  The  nation  whose  flag,  wherever  it  floats  over 


407 


Carnegie's  Reasoning 

sea  and  land,  is  the  symbol  and  guarantor  of  the  equal- 
ity of  the  citizen. 

(8)  The  nation  in  whose  Constitution  no  man  sug- 
gests improvement ;  whose  laws  as  they  stand  are  satis- 
factory to  all  citizens. '% 

(9)  The  nation  which  has  the  ideal  Second  Chamber, 
the  most  august  assembly  in  the  world — the  American 
Senate. 

(10)  The  nation  whose  Supreme  Court  is  the  envy 
of  the  ex-Prime  Minister  of  the  parent  land.     (Lord 
Salisbury.) 

(n)  The  nation  whose  Constitution  is  "the  most 
perfect  piece  of  work  ever  struck  off  at  one  time  by 
the  mind  and  purpose  of  man,"  according  to  the  pres- 
ent Prime  Minister  of  the  parent  land.  (Mr.  Glad- 
stone.) 

(12)  The  nation  most  profoundly  conservative  of 
what  is  good,  yet  based  upon  the  political  equality  of 
the  citizen. 

Since  the  publication  of  "Triumphant  Democracy," 
Mr.  Carnegie  has  discussed  the  question  in  articles 
contributed  to  the  English  and  American  magazines, 
notably  to  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  September, 
1891,  in  an  article  entitled  "An  American  View  of 
Imperial  Federation,"  and  in  June,  1892,  in  the  North 
American  Review,  in  a  paper  entitled  "A  Look  Ahead." 
There  are  others,  but  these  are  the  chief.  He  con- 
cluded his  articles  on  "A  Look  Ahead"  by  the  follow- 
ing declaration  of  faith — a  declaration  which  might 
be  regarded  in  other  men  as  a  mere  fantasy,  but  which 
in  a  hard-headed  man  like  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  has 
408 


By  a  Stroke  of  the  Pen 

shown  an  equal  ability  in  amassing  and  giving  away 
millions,  will  command  respect. 

"Let  men  say  what  they  will,  but  I  say  that  as  surely 
as  the  sun  in  the  heavens  once  shone  upon  Britain  and 
America  united,  so  surely  is  it  one  morning  to  rise  and 
shine  upon  and  greet  again  the  Re-united  States  of  the 
British-American  Union." 

This  confidence  was  based  in  the  first  case  upon  the 
fact  that  it  was  only  in  their  political  ideas  that  there 
was  any  dissimilarity,  "for  no  rupture  whatever  be- 
tween the  separated  parts  has  ever  taken  place  in  lan- 
guage, literature,  religion,  or  law.  In  these  uniform- 
ity has  always  existed.  Although  separated  polit- 
ically, the  unity  of  the  parts  has  never  been  disturbed 
in  these  strong,  cohesive  and  cementing  links." 

There  was  a  perpetual  process  of  assimilation  going 
on  between  the  political  institutions  of  the  two 
countries.  That  such  a  reunion  was  desirable  seemed 
to  Mr.  Carnegie  an  almost  self-evident  proposition. 
If  England  and  America  were  one  they  would  be  able 
to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  world  and  general  dis- 
armament. An  Anglo-American  reunion  would  ad- 
mit of  bringing  British  goods  into  the  United  States 
duty  free.  The  richest  market  in  the  world  would  be 
open  to  Great  Britain,  free  of  all  duty  by  a  stroke  of 
the  pen.  There  would  not  be  an  idle  mine,  furnace 
or  factory  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

Apart  from  material  interests,  Mr.  Carnegie  holds 
very  strongly  to  the  idea  subsequently  adopted  by  Mr. 
Chamberlain  that  the  mind  of  the  individual  citizen 
expands  in  response  to  the  magnitude  of  the  State  to 

409 


An  Issue  Irresistible 

which  he  belongs.  Dealing  with  great  affairs  broad- 
ens and  elevates  the  character — a  thesis  which  it  would 
be  somewhat  difficult  to  maintain  in  face  of  the  fact 
that  the  great  ideas  which  have  shaken  the  world  have 
in  almost  every  case  been  conceived  by  the  citizens  of 
States  so  small  that  they  could  be  stowed  away  out  of 
sight  in  a  corner  of  a  single  State  like  Texas. 

Men's  minds  do  not  always  expand  in  proportion  to 
the  geographical  area  of  the  Kingdom,  Empire,  or 
Republic  in  which  they  happen  to  be  born.  Never- 
theless there  is  a  certain  truth  in  Mr.  Carnegie's  re- 
mark, although  it  must  be  balanced  by  remembering 
Burke's  famous  phrase  about  statesmen  who  have  the 
minds  of  pedlars  and  merchants  who  act  like  princes. 
In  this  expansion  of  the  political  horizon  the  citizens 
of  both  countries  would  equally  share,  but  Mr.  Car- 
negie does  not  discuss  the  fact  that  the  balance  of  ad- 
vantage would  lie  with  the  British,  for  the  leadership 
of  the  United  States  is  secure. 

Whether  reunion  is  effected  or  abandoned  as  an  im- 
possible dream,  it  will  not  affect  the  headship  of  the 
United  States.  The  American  will  easily  be  the  first 
Power  in  the  world.  But  for  the  Motherland  it  is 
otherwise.  Mr.  Carnegie  wrote : — 

"The  only  course  for  Britain  seems  to  be  reunion 
with  her  giant  child  or  sure  decline  to  a  secondary 
place,  and  then  to  comparative  insignificance  in  the 
future  annals  of  the  English-speaking  race.  What 
great  difference  would  it  make  to  Wales,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland  if  their  representatives  to  the  Supreme 
Council  should  proceed  to  Washington  instead  of  to 
4)0 


An  Issue  Irresistible 

London?  Yet  this  is  all  the  change  that  would  be 
required,  and  for  this  they  would  have  ensured  to  them 
all  the  rights  of  independence." 

Nevertheless,  he  thinks  the  idea  would  be  received 
with  even  more  enthusiasm  in  the  United  States  than 
in  the  United  Kingdom.  "The  reunion  idea,"  said  he, 
"would  be  hailed  with  enthusiasm  in  the  United  States. 
No  idea  yet  promulgated  since  the  formation  of  the 
Union  would  create  such  unalloyed  satisfaction.  It 
would  sweep  the  country.  No  party  would  oppose ; 
each  would  try  to  excel  the  other  in  approval." 

Surveying  the  whole  situation,  Mr.  Carnegie  came 
to  the  conclusion  eight  years  ago  that  the  causes  of 
continued  disunion  which  admittedly  exist  in  England 
are  rapidly  vanishing  and  are  melting  away  like  snow 
in  the  sunshine.  Canada,  the  United  States,  and  Ire- 
land were  even  then  ready  for  reunion,  and  no  serious 
difficulty  existed  either  in  Scotland  or  in  Wales.  He 
thought  that  in  England,  Ireland,  Scotland  and  Wales 
a  proposition  to  make  all  officials  elected  by  the  people 
after  the  Queen  had  passed  away  would  command  a 
heavy  vote. 

In  1898,  when  I  had  an  opportunity  of  discussing 
the  matter  with  him,  he  was  so  confident  that  the  re- 
union was  practicable,  that  he  had  modified  his  views 
in  many  directions.  When  he  had  first  launched  the 
idea  he  regarded  it  as  necessary  for  the  British  people 
to  abjure  their  monarchy,  their  hereditary  peerage, 
their  Established  Church,  and  to  do  away  with  their 
Indian  Empire,  and  as  a  preliminary  to  reunion  he  had 


Eight  New  Popular  States 

contemplated  a  declaration  of  independence  on  the 
part  of  Canada,  Australia,  and  South  Africa. 

In  1898  he  recognized  that  such  a  drastic  process  of 
demolition  and  disintegration  was  not  the  necessary 
preliminary  to  reunion*  He  thought  it  was  quite  pos- 
sible that  special  provision  might  be  made  for  the  ad- 
mission of  monarchical  States  into  the  British-Amer- 
ican Union.  He  still  clung  to  his  idea  of  the  admis- 
sion of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  into  the  Union. 
They  would,  he  said,  cut  up  into  eight  States,  with  an 
average  of  five  millions  each  in  population.  This 
is  considerably  more  than  the  average  of  the  American 
States,  but  it  is  less  than  the  population  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  York.  It  is  well  that  Mr.  Carnegie 
should  have  modified  his  views  so  far  as  to  admit  that 
the  British  race  might  assent  to  a  reunion  without 
being  compelled  as  a  preliminary  to  abjure  their  dis- 
tinctive peculiarities. 

Upon  this  point  Cobden,  in  his  well-known  pamphlet 
"England,  Ireland,  and  America,"  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  spring  of  1835,  said  some  words  which 
are  worth  while  remembering  and  quoting  in  this  con- 
nection. Writing  immediately  after  his  return  from 
his  first  visit  to  the  United  States,  he  declared  that  he 
fervently  believed  "that  our  only  chance  of  national 
prosperity  lies  in  the  timely  remodelling  of  our  system, 
so  as  to  put  it  as  nearly  as  possible  upon  an  equality 
with  the  improved  management  of  the  Americans." 
But,  he  went  on,  "let  us  not  be  misconstrued.  We  do 
pot  advocate  Republican  institutions  for  this  .country ; 
we  believe  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  be 
4J2 


Cobden  on  America 

at  this  moment  the  best  in  the  world,  but  then  the 
Americans  are  the  best  people,  individually  and 
nationally. 

"As  individuals,  because  in  our  opinion  the  people 
that  are  the  best  educated  must,  morally  and  religiously 
speaking,  be  the  best.  As  a  nation,  because  it  is  the 
only  great  community  that  has  never  waged  war  ex- 
cept in  absolute  self-defence,  the  only  one  which  has 
never  made  a  conquest  of  territory  by  force  of  arms; 
because  it  is  the  only  nation  whose  government  has 
never  had  occasion  to  employ  the  army  to  defend  it 
against  the  people ;  the  only  one  which  has  never  had 
one  of  its  citizens  convicted  of  treason,  and  because  it 
is  the  only  country  that  has  honorably  discharged  its 
public  debt.  Those  who  argue  in  favor  of  a  Republic 
in  lieu  of  a  mixed  Monarchy  for  Britain  are,  we  sus- 
pect, ignorant  of  the  genius  of  their  countrymen. 

"Democracy  forms  no  element  in  the  material  of 
English  character.  An  Englishman  is  from  his 
mother's  womb  an  aristocrat.  The  insatiable  love  of 
caste  that  in  England,  as  in  Hindustan,  devours  all 
hearts,  is  confined  to  no  walks  of  society,  but  pervades 
every  degree  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  No; 
whatever  changes  in  the  course  of  time  education  may 
and  will  effect,  we  do  not  believe  that  England  at  this 
moment  contains  even  the  germs  of  genuine  Repub- 
licanism. We  do  not,  then,  advocate  the  adoption  of 
democratic  institutions  for  such  a  people." 

Nearly  seventy  years  have  passed  since  then,  and  we 
have  had  nearly  thirty  years  of  popular  education; 
but  there  is  so  much  truth  in  Mr.  Cobden's  somewhat 

413 


The  Republican  Spirit 

pessimistic  observations,  that  any  scheme  which  ne- 
cessitated the  repudiation  of  aristocratic  distinctions 
or  monarchical  bric-a-brac  would  be  fatal  to  the 
scheme  of  reunion.  John  Bull  would  have  to  experi- 
ence a  new  birth  before  he  could  qualify  as  an  entirely 
regenerated  citizen  of  the  American  Republic.  He 
must  be  allowed  to  retain  his  plush-breeched  and 
powdered  footmen,  his  Lord  Mayor's  coach,  and  all  the 
paraphernalia  and  trappings  of  monarchy  and  peer- 
age, if  only  to  enable  him  to  feel  at  home  in  a  cold, 
cold  world,  and  cultivate  that  spirit  of  condescen- 
sion towards  Americans  which  is  his  sole  remaining 
consolation. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  not- 
withstanding Cobden's  estimate  of  the  anti-republican 
character  of  his  own  countrymen,  the  natives  of  these 
islands,  when  once  they  leave  their  native  land,  never 
establish  anything  but  what  is  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses a  Republican  system  of  government. 

Sir  Walter  Besant,  when  discussing  the  future  of 
the  race,  dwelt  much  upon  the  significance  of  the  fact 
that,  while  all  the  States  that  have  come  out  of  Great 
Britain  have  had  to  create  their  own  form  of  govern- 
ment, every  one  has  become  practically  a  Republic, 
yet  while  all  the  Colonies  are  virtually  Republican, 
the  Mother  Country  is  less  Republican  than  she  was 
twenty  years  ago.  In  the  Colonies,  with  every  genera- 
tion, the  Republican  idea  becomes  intensified,  and  this, 
he  thought,  would,  as  there  was  no  corresponding 
trend  of  opinion  in  the  Mother  Country  towards  Re- 
publicanism, inevitably  result  in  separation. 
4J4 


Reorganizing  the  Empire 

For,  as  he  said,  if  the  English  Government  remains 
what  it  is,  and  the  English  Colonies  become  more  and 
more  obstinately  Republican,  there  will  most  certainly 
exist  a  permanent  cleavage  between  them  growing 
every  year  wider  and  wider. 

He  was  so  much  convinced  of  this  that  in  his  fore- 
cast of  the  future  he  calmly  counted  upon  the  dis- 
ruption of  the  Empire  as  a  preliminary  to  the  federa- 
tion of  the  race. 

But  in  that  case  we  could  separate  only  in  order  to 
reunite,  and  the  basis  would  be  wide  enough  to  afford 
space  for  the  United  States  in  the  centre  of  the 
group.  It  is  probable  that  Canada  and  Australia  and 
South  Africa  would  find  it  easier  to  coalesce  with  the 
United  States  than  with  the  United  Kingdom.  But 
the  political  institutions  of  the  United  Kingdom  itself 
are  likely  to  undergo  considerable  changes  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Americanization. 

Few  subjects  afford  more  interesting  matter  for 
discussion  and  speculation  than  the  steps  which  would 
be  taken  by  the  Americans  if  they  were  placed  in 
charge  of  the  administration  of  the  British  Empire, 
with  a  contract  to  reorganize  it  upon  American  prin- 
ciples. Dr.  Albert  Shaw  nine  years  ago  addressed 
himself  to  the  consideration  of  this  question  in  the 
pages  of  the  Contemporary  Reviezv,  with  characteristic 
intrepidity  and  plain-spokenness.  Home  Rule  seemed 
to  him,  as  it  does  to  all  Americans,  the  very  first  step 
towards  clearing  the  situation  for  entrance  upon  a 
large  and  worthy  Imperial  policy ;  and  he  did  not  mince 
his  words  as  to  the  silly  sophistries  and  general  stu- 

4J5 


Reorganizing  the  Empire 

pidities  which  did  service  as  arguments  against  allow- 
ing the  Irish  people  to  manage  purely  Irish  affairs  in 
Ireland. 

"If,"  said  he,  "Americans  were  to  take  the  contract 
for  reorganizing  the  British  Empire,  they  would  lose 
no  time  in  telegraphing  for  the  strong  men  of  both 
Canadian  parties,  for  Mr.  Rhodes,  Mr.  Hofmeyer,  and 
the  other  empire-builders  of  South  Africa,  for  the  ex- 
perienced and  staunch  politicians  of  the  Australian 
States,  and  for  Englishmen  everywhere  who  were 
actually  engaged  in  maintaining  British  supremacy. 
After  a  Conference,  they  would  draw  up  certain  ten- 
tative proposals,  and  call  an  Imperial  Convention  to 
draft  a  final  scheme  of  Federation.  This  scheme 
should  provide  for  a  true  Imperial  Parliament,  to  take 
over  from  the  existing  local  parliaments  of  the  United 
Kingdom  all  Imperial  business.  It  would  place  the 
Navy,  the  army,  and  the  postal  service  upon  an 
Imperial  basis.  It  would  establish  absolute  free  trade 
between  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  although  it  might 
allow  certain  parts  to  maintain  differential  tariffs 
against  non-British  tariffs.  It  would  allow  Ireland 
Home  Rule,  as  a  matter  of  course,  subject  not  to  the 
United  Kingdom  but  to  the  British  Empire.  With 
such  an  Empire  the  Americans  would  have  no  occa- 
sion for  controversy.  The  frictions  that  have  en- 
dangered the  relations  of  Great  Britain  and  America 
in  recent  years  have  grown  out  of  the  mischievously 
anomalous  political  situation  of  Canada.  A  unified 
Imperial  economic  system  might  soon  lead  to  a  Reci- 
procity Treaty  between  the  two  English-speaking 


Reorganizing  the  Empire 

Federations  that  would  hasten  the  advent  of  the  Uni- 
versal Free  Trade  that  all  intelligent  Protectionists 
anticipate  and  desire." 

Whatever  the  British  reader  may  think  of  Dr. 
Shaw's  outline  of  the  reconstitution  of  our  Constitu- 
tion, there  are  an  increasing  number  of  people  in  this 
country  who  would  be  very  glad  indeed  to  see  some 
very  radical  changes  introduced  with  a  view  of  restor- 
ing efficiency  to  Parliament  and  securing  the  Federa- 
tion of  the  Empire.  But  we  must  not  stray  further  in 
these  speculative  regions. 


4J7 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Third 

Steps  Towards  Reunion 

IT  may  be  admitted  by  all,  even  those  who  are  least 
favorable  to  the  idea  of  complete  reunion,  that  it  would 
be  well  to  keep  the  ideal  of  reunion  before  our  eyes, 
if  only  in  order  to  minimize  points  of  friction  and  to 
promote  co-operation  in  the  broad  field  in  which  our 
interests  are  identical.  Even  if  we  cannot  have  the 
reunion,  we  might  have  the  race  alliance.  This  being 
the  case,  we  may  devote  the  concluding  chapter  in  this 
book  to  a  discussion  of  some  of  the  suggestions  which 
have  been  made  for  the  promotion  of  a  sense  of  race 
unity,  whether  or  not  we  regard  the  ultimate  goal  as 
one  that  is  within  the  reach  of  ourselves  or  of  our 
descendants. 

As  a  starting-point  in  this  inquiry,  it  is  well  to  quote 
the  familiar  passage  from  Washington's  farewell  ad- 
dress to  the  American  people :  "The  great  rule  of  con- 
duct for  us  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  is  in  extending 
our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little 
political  connections  as  possible." 

The  advice  is  sound,  but  it  must  not  be  read  as 
4J8 


Policy  of  Isolation 

equivalent  to  an  interdict  upon  all  political  connection 
whatever.  All  that  Washington  said  was,  "as  little 
political  connection  as  possible."  Now  the  irreducible 
minimum  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  quite  impossible 
in  the  twentieth  century,  when  politics  and  commerce 
are  inextricably  intermingled.  A  policy  of  isolation 
is  denied  to  China,  and  is  even  unthinkable  in  relation 
to  the  United  States  of  America.  At  the  same  time 
the  general  principle  is  sound.  The  fewer  points 
there  are  of  political  contact  the  less  risk  is  there  of 
political  collision. 

Whatever  federation,  alliance,  or  reunion  may  ulti- 
mately be  effected,  it  is  a  condition  sine  qua  non  that 
each  member  of  the  federation  shall  retain  freedom 
of  national  self-government,  and  unrestricted  sover- 
eignty to  do  exactly  as  he  pleases  in  every  department 
excepting  those  which  are  specifically  surrendered  to 
the  central  authority.  As  Mr.  Carnegie  says :  "Each 
member  must  be  free  to  manage  his  own  home  as  he 
thinks  proper,  without  incurring  hostile  criticism  or 
parental  interference.  All  must  be  equal,  allies,  not 
dependents." 

A  good  deal  may  be  done,  and  a  good  deal  is  being 
done  already,  though  a  good  deal  more  might  be  done 
towards  the  cultivation  of  the  sentiment  of  race  unity. 
One  of  the  most  simple  and  obvious  suggestions  which 
to  some  extent  has  been  acted  upon  of  late  years,  has 
been  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  outside  the 
area  of  the  United  States  of  America.  The  practice 
of  hoisting  flags  on  the  birthday  of  the  American 
Republic  has  been  gaining  ground  in  Great  Britain, 

4*9 


A  Day  of  Reunion 

and  here  and  there  Britons  have  begun  to  set  apart  the 
sacred  Fourth  of  July  as  a  fete  day  of  the  race. 

But  the  proposal  to  adopt  the  Fourth  as  the  common 
fete  day  of  the  race  would  be  more  than  the  ordinary 
British  subject  could'' tolerate,  at  least  just  yet.  As 
year  after  year  passes,  he  will  come  to  celebrate  the 
Fourth  heartily  and  ungrudgingly;  but  if  there  is  to 
be  a  common  fete  day  of  the  race,  it  should  commem- 
orate the  day  of  reunion  rather  than  the  day  of  separa- 
tion. It  would  be  easy  to  lose  ourselves  in  premature 
discussion  as  to  the  fete  day  which  would  meet  with 
the  most  general  acceptance,  both  in  the  Empire  and  in 
the  Republic.  Shakespeare's  birthday  is  one  sugges- 
tion; the  day  of  the  signature  of  Magna  Charta  is 
another;  but  no  suggestion  that  has  yet  been  made 
seems  likely  to  command  so  much  support  as  the  pro- 
posal to  set  apart  the  Third  of  September  as  Reunion 
Day. 

On  the  3rd  of  September,  1783,1116  King  and  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain,  in  the  midst  of  acclamations 
and  rejoicings  of  the  peoples  on  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic, acknowledged  the  independence  which  had  been 
claimed  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  made  peace  with 
all  the  countries  that  had  been  involved  in  the  great 
controversy.  On  that  day  Great  Britain  publicly 
acknowledged  that  her  first-born  son  had  reached  a 
man's  estate,  and  was  fully  entitled  to  rank  as  a  nation 
among  the  nations.  It  was  the  first  day  that  the 
divided  race  celebrated  together  the  pact  of  peace. 

The  3rd  of  September  is  also  a  famous  day  in  British 
annals.  It  was  Cromwell's  great  day,  the  day  of  Dun- 
420 


An  International  Holiday 

bar  and  of  Worcester,  the  day  on  which  he  opened  his 
Parliaments,  the  day  on  which  he  passed  into  the 
presence  of  his  Maker.  Cromwell,  the  common  hero 
of  both  sections  of  the  race,  summoned  his  first  Parlia- 
ment on  the  4th  of  July,  and  his  inaugural  address  was 
the  first  Fourth  of  July  oration  that  was  ever  delivered. 
It  was  instinct  with  the  conviction  of  the  reality  of  the 
providential  mission  of  the  English-speaking  race. 
In  his  own  words :  "We  have  our  desire  to  seek  heal- 
ing and  looking  forward  than  to  rake  into  sores  and 
look  backwards." 

Many  suggestions  have  been  made  as  to  the  outward 
and  visible  sign  by  which  the  approximation  of  the  two 
races  could  be  symbolized  to  mankind.  When  Earl 
Grey,  in  1896,  was  going  out  to  the  Cape  to  take  up 
the  Government  of  Rhodesia,  he  noticed  on  the  arm  of 
a  steward  in  the  Dunottar  Castle  a  somewhat  curious 
tattooed  device,  with  the  description  of  "Hands  all 
round."  On  asking  to  look  at  it  more  closely,  he 
found  that  there  was  a  ship  in  full  sail  in  the  centre, 
with  a  device  of  flags,  one  the  Union  Jack,  the  other 
that  of  New  South  Wales. 

The  motto  seemed  so  apposite  that  he  copied  the 
design  from  the  sailor's  arm,  and  sent  it  on  to  me  with 
the  suggestion  that  "this  might  serve  as  an  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  the  unity  of  the  race."  By  sub- 
stituting a  mail  steamer  for  the  full-rigged  sailing- 
ship,  and  replacing  the  flag  of  New  South  Wales  by 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  the  resulting  escutcheon  may 
be  commended  for  consideration  to  the  citizens  of  both 
countries. 

42J 


An  Aid  to  Race  Unity 

One  thing  that  might  be  done  and  that  at  once  would 
be  the  publication  of  more  American  news  in  the 
English  papers.  I  do  not  refer  so  much  to  telegrams, 
inadequate  as  our  service  is  from  the  other  side,  but  I 
refer  rather  to  the  publication  of  special  articles  deal- 
ing with  the  immense  multiplicity  of  matters  of  in- 
terest with  which  the  American  newspapers  are 
crowded. 

The  Americans  are  much  better  informed  concern- 
ing English  affairs  than  we  are  concerning  the 
social,  industrial  and  scientific  movements  of  the 
United  States.  The  news  that  reaches  us  from  Amer- 
ica is  almost  entirely  confined  to  market  quota- 
tions and  political  elections.  The  electoral  struggles 
between  parties  in  either  country  are  as  a  rule  the  most 
uninteresting  items  of  news  that  could  be  chronicled 
in  the  other. 

When  I  was  in  Chicago,  seven  years  ago,  I  was 
much  impressed  by  the  immense  superiority  of  the 
European  news  service  of  the  Chicago  papers  to  the 
American  news  service  of  the  London  papers.  The 
Chicago  citizen  on  Sunday  morning  would  find  as  a 
rule  three  special  correspondents'  letters  from  London, 
one  from  Paris,  and  one  from  Berlin,  telegraphed  the 
previous  night,  each  of  the  length  of  a  column  or 
more,  giving  a  very  intelligent,  brightly  written  sketch 
of  the  history  of  the  week. 

We  have  nothing  approaching  to  that  from  the  other 
side  in  any  of  our  English  papers.  I  remember  tak- 
ing note,  for  six  months  after  I  came  from  Chicago, 
of  all  the  items  of  Chicago  news  that  appeared  in  the 
422 


International  Citizenship 

English  papers.  I  think  in  the  six  months  there  was 
only  one  telegram,  which  gave  a  brief  and  misleading 
account  of  a  regulation  said  to  have  been  adopted  by 
the  City  Fathers  against  the  use  of  bloomers  by  lady 
cyclists  in  the  city  parks. 

That  was  literally  the  only  item  of  information 
which  reached  this  country  concerning  the  life  of  the 
second  greatest  city  in  the  United  States.  There  is 
no  disinclination  on  the  part  of  the  British  public  to 
read  American  news.  The  fault  lies  solely  with  those 
who  purvey  it. 

Passing  from  matters  which  lie  within  the  scope 
of  private  enterprise  and  individual  initiative,  we  come 
to  the  proposal  made  some  time  ago  by  Mr.  Dicey  and 
strongly  supported  in  other  quarters  for  the  adoption 
of  a  mutual  agreement  between  the  Governments  of 
the  two  countries  for  the  proclamation  of  a  common 
citizenship,  so  that  every  subject  of  the  King  should 
become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States  should  become  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  enjoyed  by  a  British  subject  in  whatever 
part  of  the  world  he  may  happen  to  live.  Mr.  Dicey 
put  his  suggestion  in  a  very  concrete  shape.  He 
said : — 


"My  proposal  is  summarily  this :  That  England  and  the 
United  States  should,  by  concurrent  and  appropriate  legisla- 
tion, create  such  a  common  citizenship,  or,  to  put  the  matter 
in  a  more  concrete  and  therefore  in  a  more  intelligible  form, 
that  an  Act  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  should  make  every 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  during  the  continuance  of  peace 
between  England  and  America,  a  British  subject,  and  that 
simultaneously  an  Act  of  Congress  should  make  every  British 
subject,  during  the  continuance  of  such  peace,  a  citizen  of  the 

423 


International  Citizenship 

United  States.  The  coming  into  force  of  the  one  Act  would 
be  dependent  upon  the  passing  and  coming  into  force  of 
the  other.  Should  war  at  any  time  break  out  between  the 
two  countries,  each  Act  would  ipso  facto  cease  to  have  ef- 
fect  

"My  proposal  is  not  designed  to  limit  the  complete  na- 
tional independence  either  of  England  or  of  the  United  States. 
There  would,  for  the  foundation  of  a  common  citizenship, 
be  no  need  for  any  revolution,  even  of  a  legal  kind,  in  the 
Constitution  either  of  England  or  of  the  United  States. 
Community  of  citizenship  would  affect  not  civil,  but  political 
rights.  If  the  Acts  creating  isopolity  were  passed,  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  would,  on  the  necessary  conditions  be- 
ing fulfilled,  be  able  to  vote  for  a  member  of  Parliament,  to 
sit  in  Parliament,  and,  if  fortune  favored,  become  a  Cabinet 
Minister  or  a  Premier.  He  might  aspire,  did  his  ambition 
lead  in  that  direction,  to  the  House  of  Lords.  So.  on  the 
other  hand,  a  British  subject,  to  whom  American  citizenship 
has  been  extended,  might,  on  the  necessary  conditions  being 
fulfilled,  vote  for  a  member  of  Congress,  become  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  or  even  a  Senator.  .  .  . 

"The  immediate  results,  indeed,  of  a  common  citizenship 
would  be  small,  but,  as  far  as  they  went,  they  would  all  be 
good.  ...  It  would,  further,  be  an  unspeakable  advantage 
that  this  sense  of  unity  should  be  proclaimed  to  the  whole 
world.  The  declaration  of  isopolity  would  be  an  announce- 
ment which  no  foreign  State  could  legitimately  blame  or 
wisely  overlook — that  men  of  English  descent  in  England 
and  America  alike  were  determined  to  safeguard  the  future 
prosperity  of  the  whole  English  people." 

This  would  obviate  the  necessity  of  any  abjuring 
of  nationality  when  Americans  came  to  Great  Britain 
or  when  British  subjects  settled  in  the  United  States. 
A  form  of  declaration  could  easily  be  drawn  up,  which 
would  be  equivalent  to  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  either 
the  Republic  or  to  the  Crown,  and  which  would  not 
in  the  least  impair  the  original  allegiance  due  to  the 
country  in  which  any  one  was  born.  As  Americans 
are  likely  to  settle  in  increasing  numbers  in  this 
country,  they  are  more  likely  to  appreciate  the  ad- 
424 


Benefit  of  Common  Citizenship 

vantage  of  such  an  arrangement  than  they  would  have 
been  at  a  time  when  the  migration  was  all  the  other 
way. 

They  are  also  likely  to  appreciate  the  advantage  of 
such  an  arrangement  more  keenly  the  more  widely 
they  scatter  in  foreign  lands.  The  more  America  ex- 
pands, the  more  handy  will  it  be  for  the  American 
citizen  to  avail  himself  of  the  services  of  the  British 
Consul  or  British  Ambassador  wherever  he  may  be. 
After  a  time,  indeed,  it  might  be  possible  largely  to 
avoid  the  duplication  of  diplomatic  and  consular 
staffs.  But  that  is  a  long  way  off,  and  need  not  be 
considered  now.  Every  American  or  British  citizen 
could  avail  himself  of  the  help  of  two  officials,  in- 
stead of  one,  and  in  like  manner  he  could  rely  upon 
the  support  of  the  fleets  of  both  nations  for  the  punish- 
ment of  any  high-handed  wrong  inflicted  upon  him 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  the  Cuban  War  the  pro- 
tection of  American  interests  in  Spain  was  entrusted 
to  British  diplomacy,  and  in  the  South  African  Re- 
publics to  the  American  Consul  at  Pretoria.  This 
arrangement  worked  excellently,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  carried  a  step  farther. 

We  now  come  to  consider  whether  anything  can  be 
done  to  assimilate  the  laws  of  the  two  countries  so 
far  as  they  relate  to  those  subjects  which  are  of  inter- 
national interest,  such  as  copyright,  trade-mark,  mar- 
riage and  divorce,  patents,  etc.  The  first  practical 
step  towards  bringing  the  Empire  and  the  Republic 
into  organic  relations  with  each  other  would  be,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Carnegie's  idea: — 

425 


A  Higher  Supreme  Court 

"The  appointment  by  the  various  nations  of  our  race  of 
International  Commissions  charged  with  creating  a  system 
of  weights,  measures,  and  coins,  of  port  dues,  patents,  and 
other  matters  of  similar  character,  which  are  of  common 
interest.  If  there  be  a  question  upon  which  all  authorities  are 
agreed,  it  is  the  desirability  of  introducing  the  decimal  sys- 
tem of  weights,  measures,  and  coins :  but  an  International 
Commission  seems  the  only  agency  capable  of  bringing  it 
about." 

After  this  was  done,  Mr.  Carnegie  thinks  that  a 
"General  Council  should  be  evolved  by  the  English- 
speaking  nations,  to  which  may  at  first  only  be  referred 
all  questions  of  dispute  between  them." 

"Building  upon  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
may  we  not  expect  that  a  still  higher  Supreme  Court  is  one 
day  to  come,  which  shall  judge  between  the  nations  of  the 
entire  English-speaking  race  as  the  Supreme  Court  at  Wash- 
ington already  judges  between  States  which  contain  the  ma- 
jority of  the  race?  The  powers  and  duties  of  such  a  Coun- 
cil once  established  may  be  safely  trusted  to  increase.  To 
its  final  influence  over  the  race,  and  through  the  race  over 
the  world,  no  limit  can  be  set.  In  the  dim  future  it  might 
even  come  that  the  pride  of  the  citizen  in  the  race  as  a  whole 
would  exceed  that  which  he  had  in  any  part  thereof,  as  the 
citizen  of  the  Republic  to-day  is  prouder  of  being  an  Ameri- 
can than  he  is  of  being  a  native  of  any  State  in  the  Union." 

Once  establish  a  Court  competent  to  give  judgment 
upon  specified  questions,  they  would  be  settled  without 
any  necessity  for  passing  them  through  diplomatic 
channels.  Appeal  would  be  made  to  the  Court  direct. 
Questions  coming  before  the  Court  should  be  divided 
into  categories.  The  first  would  include  all  questions 
dealing  with  inventions,  treaties,  etc.,  which  would 
be  decided  upon  strictly  legal  lines. 

The  foreign  offices  of  the  two  countries  would  no 
426 


Protection  vs.  Free  Trade 

more  think  of  interfering  with  the  settlement  of  such 
questions  than  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washington 
would  think  of  preventing  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  second  category  would  cover  ordinary 
disputes  now  dealt  with  by  diplomacy.  If  diplomacy 
failed,  a  special  arbitrator  might  be  appointed  to  deal 
with  special  cases.  Supposing  that  we  succeed  in 
establishing  the  principle  of  common  citizenship,  and 
international  conventions  governing  our  international 
relations  on  the  lines  suggested  by  Mr.  Carnegie,  it 
might  be  well  to  stop  there,  and  not  carry  the  prin- 
ciple further  at  present.  But  if  we  ever  get  so  far, 
we  shall  go  further. 

Few  things  are  more  certain  than  that  there  will 
be  a  great  slump  in  the  principle  of  Protection.  The 
country  which  can  produce  more  cheaply  than  its 
neighbor  will  not  be  long  in  recognizing  the  necessity 
of  the  principle  of  free  trade.  Already  the  most  ab- 
solute free  trade  prevails  between  all  the  States  and 
territories  composing  the  American  Union.  It  is 
not  inconceivable  that  the  area  of  free  trade  may  in 
time  be  extended,  not  only  to  the  United  States,  but 
to  all  the  countries  inhabited  by  an  English-speaking 
race. 

There  remains  the  question  of  whether  there  should 
be  an  alliance,  offensive'  or  defensive,  between  the  two 
States.  When  the  United  States  was  engaged  in  the 
war  with  Spain,  the  Americans  relied  very  confidently 
upon  the  support  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  this  day  the 
belief  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of 
the  American  people  that  the  British  Government  went 

427 


Convenient  Alliances 

a  great  deal  further  than  was  actually  the  case  in 
threatening  to  ally  its  fleet  with  that  of  the  United 
States  if  the  European  Powers  ventured  to  intervene 
on  behalf  of  Spain. 

The  Americans  rightly  shrink  from  any  entangling 
alliances  with  Great  Britain  which  would  involve 
them  in  an  obligation  to  sacrifice  the  benefits  of  peace 
whenever  a  hot-headed  English  minister  chose  to 
quarrel  with  Russia,  or  any  other  European  Power. 
But  alliances  between  nations  are  capable  of  infinite 
degrees  of  intimacy.  For  instance,  the  Franco-Russian 
alliance,  leaves  each  Power  absolutely  free  to  conduct 
its  own  foreign  policy  and  to  make  its  own  wars  with- 
out involving  the  other  in  any  obligation  to  depart  from 
the  policy  of  neutrality. 

The  Franco-Russian  arrangement  provided  that  if 
either  France  or  Russia  is  attacked  by  two  Powers, 
the  other  party  to  the  alliance  is  bound  to  assist  its 
ally ;  but  if  Germany  attacked  Russia,  France  would  be 
under  no  obligation  to  draw  the  sword,  unless  Germany 
were  backed  up  by  Austria.  In  that  case,  France 
would  have  to  enter  the  field.  In  like  manner,  if  Ger- 
many attacked  France,  Russia  would  be  under  no 
obligation  to  interfere  unless  another  Power  joined 
Germany.  This  represents  a  form  of  alliance  which 
secures  both  parties  against  an  attack  by  a  coalition 
without  entailing  any  obligation  upon  either  to  assist 
the  other  in  case  of  a  single-handed  war  or  a  war  of 
aggression. 

Mr.  Arthur  White,  writing  in  the  North  American 


428 


Convenient  Alliances 

Review  for  April,  1894,  suggested  the  following  draft 
of  the  terms  of  an  Anglo-American  Alliance : — 

"Great  Britain  shall  become  an  ally  of  the  United 
States  in  the  event  of  any  European  Power  or  Powers 
declaring  war  against  the  latter.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  United  States  shall  guarantee  friendly  neutrality 
in  the  event  of  Great  Britain  becoming  involved  in  war 
with  one  or  more  of  the  European  Powers,  concerning 
issues  that  in  no  way  concern  the  Pacific  interests  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  that  case  the  United  States 
shall  render  to  Great  Britain  every  assistance,  positive 
and  negative,  allowed  to  neutrals." 

The  Triple  Alliance  is  closer  than  that  between 
France  and  Russia,  but  still  it  is  an  alliance  with  lim- 
ited liability. 

The  question  as  to  whether  it  is  possible  for  a  race 
alliance  to  be  formed  between  the  various  members  of 
the  English-speaking  federation,  which  would  leave 
each  member  free  to  pursue  its  own  foreign  policy, 
while  securing  each  against  an  attack  from  a  coalition, 
has  been  the  subject  of  very  thoughtful  discussion  by 
Mr.  Stevenson,  who,  however,  was  thinking  not  so 
much  of  an  alliance  between  the  Republic  and  the 
Empire  as  of  the  familiar  idea  of  an  alliance  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  self-governing  colonies. 

Mr.  Stevenson,  foreseeing  a  time  when  the  Common- 
wealth of  Australia  will  wish  to  pursue  its  own  foreign 
policy  in  the  Pacific,  asks :  Is  it  possible  to  gratify  the 
desire  of  an  independent  colony  to  pursue  a  foreign 
policy  without  at  the  same  time  compelling  the  Mother 
Country  to  support  such  foreign  policy  by  the  armies 

429 


An  Ingenious  Alliance 

and  navies  of  Great  Britain?  He  maintained  that  it 
was  quite  possible.  He  expressed  his  approval  of 
such  an  alliance  between  Great  Britain  and  the  self- 
governing  colonies,  whereby  they  could  make  peace  or 
war  of  their  own  accord,  without  endangering  the 
Mother  Country  or  the  colonies. 

His  suggestion  was  very  ingenious.  He  proposed 
that  when  the  great  self-governing  colonies  should 
arrive  at  man's  estate,  they  should  be  allowed  each  in 
its  own  zone  to  act  as  independent  and  sovereign 
States  in  making  peace  or  war,  and  in  concluding 
treaties,  commercial  or  otherwise,  with  their  neighbors. 
In  place  of  the  Empire,  he  would  substitute  a  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  by  which  each  member  of  the 
Imperial  Union  would  be  free  either  to  make  common 
cause  with  any  of  the  other  members  of  the  Union, 
should  they  embark  upon  war,  or  should  be  not  less 
free  to  declare  their  neutrality.  The  bond  between  the 
English-speaking  nations  would  be  reduced  to  an 
obligation  to  guarantee  the  home  lands  of  the  race 
against  foreign  conquest,  and  a  joint  guarantee  by  each 
and  all  of  the  right  to  neutrality. 

This  would  work  in  practice  somewhat  as  follows  : — 
If  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  the  Imperial  tie,  Canada  would  be  free  to 
attack  France,  if  she  refused  to  settle  the  French  shore 
difficulty  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  Newfoundland. 
No  other  State  in  the  League  would  be  under  any 
obligation  to  help  Canada,  which  could  make  war  or 
peace  with  France  on  her  own  account.  But  if  France, 
refusing  to  recognize  this  neutrality,  were  to  attack 
430 


Alliance  Possibilities 

Australia  or  the  United  Kingdom,  every  other  member 
of  the  League  would  be  bound  to  make  common  cause 
against  France  in  order  to  vindicate  the  right  of 
neutrality. 

Supposing  France,  recognizing  the  declaration  of 
neutrality,  nevertheless  defeated  Canada  and  attempted 
to  annex  Canadian  territory,  by  right  of  conquest, 
then  all  the  other  members  of  the  League  would  be 
bound  to  make  war  on  France  to  compel  her  to  con- 
fine her  compensation  to  financial  indemnity.  The 
two  great  basic  principles  of  the  League  would  be  the 
mutually  guaranteed  right  of  neutrality  and  the  mutual 
guarantee  of  the  inviolability  of  all  the  territory  oc- 
cupied by  the  English-speaking  peoples. 

Twenty  years  ago  Senator  Lamar  said :  "Whenever 
America  is  in  need  of  allies,  I  will  tell  you  what  will 
happen.  Some  wise  British  statesman  will  suggest  an 
Anglo-Saxon  League,  something  akin  to  the  League 
in  Europe  when  Henry  IV.  ruled  France.  This  will 
not  be  an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive." 

Mr.  Secretary  Hay  declared  in  1897  that:  "It  is  a 
sanction  like  that  of  religion  which  binds  us  to  a  sort 
of  partnership  in  the  beneficent  work  of  the  world. 
Whether  we  will  it  or  not,  we  are  associated  in  that 
work  by  the  very  nature  of  things,  and  no  man  and  no 
group  of  men  can  prevent  it.  We  are  bound  by  a  tie 
which  we  did  not  forge,  and  which  we  cannot  break. 
We  are  joint  ministers  of  the  same  sacred  mission  of 
liberty  and  progress,  charged  with  duties  which  we 
cannot  evade  by  the  imposition  of  irresistible  hands." 

If  the  reunion  of  the  race  is  written  in  the  book  of 

43J 


A  Supreme  Power  Necessary 

Destiny,  then  in  vain  do  we  strive  against  it.  The  bene- 
fits likely  to  accrue  to  the  world  from  such  a  reunion 
are  naturally  more  obvious  to  the  English-speaking 
communities  than  to  those  which  lie  outside  the  pale. 
But  one  of  the  strongest  expressions  of  sympathy  with 
the  aspiration  of  the  race  for  a  higher  unity  came  from 
a  foreign  observer,  who,  under  the  name  of  Nauticus, 
contributed  a  notable  article  on  the  subject  to  the  Fort- 
nightly Review  in  1894.  He  deplored  the  schism  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  the 
ground  that  it  divided  and  weakened  the  expression 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  will,  for  he  declared  himself  per- 
suaded that  this  Anglo-Saxon  will  ought  to  have  upon 
the  world  in  future  an  even  greater  influence  than  it 
had  in  the  past. 

The  world,  he  said,  could  well  afford  "to  place  its 
confidence  in  the  integrity  and  fairness  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  For  the  sake  of  peace  and  disarma- 
ment it  seems  necessary  that  some  superior  power 
should  be  created.  Such  a  re-united  Anglo-Saxondom 
wrould  be  a  supreme  sea-Power  of  the  world,"  and  as 
such  could  give  an  extension  to  the  rights  of  neutrals 
which,  in  his  opinion,  would  render  war  impracticable. 
He  said :  "It  is  not  merely  that  the  combined  navies 
would  be  strong.  Far  more  weighty  are  the  consider- 
ations that  the  British  Empire  and  the  United  States 
share  between  them  nearly  all  the  work  of  providing 
other  countries  with  the  food,  raw  material  and  manu- 
factures which  those  countries  cannot  provide  at  home, 
and  of  carrying  the  ocean-borne  trade  of  the  world. 
Why  should  not  your  combined  navies  declare  war,  re- 
432 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Should  Dominate 

fuse  henceforth  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  any  civil- 
ized Power  to  close  her  ports  or  the  ports  of  another 
Power  by  blockading  or  otherwise  ?  Surely  that  would 
sound  the  knell  of  war." 

Mr.  A.  W.  Tourgee,  writing  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  two  years  ago,  said  : — 


"An  alliance  between  the  great  branches  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  family  means  the  creation  of  a  world-power  against 
which  it  is  not  only  impossible  that  any  European  combina- 
tion should  make  headway,  but  it  will  have  such  control  of 
the  commercial  and  economic  resources  of  the  world  as  to 
enable  them  to  put  an  end  to  war  between  the  Continental 
Powers  themselves  without  mustering  an  army  or  firing  a 
gun.  Whether  they  desire  it  or  not,  the  necessities  of  the 
world's  life,  the  preservation  of  their  own  political  ideals, 
and  the  commercial  and  economic  conditions  which  they  con- 
front, must  soon  compel  a  closer  entente  between  these  two 
great  peoples.  They  are  the  peacemakers  of  the  Twentieth 
Century,  the  protectors  of  the  world's  development,  the  pro- 
tectors of  free  independence  and  of  the  weak  nationalities  of 
the  earth." 


Writing  his  book  on  the  "Rise  of  the  Empire,"  Sir 
Walter  Besant  thus  defined  his  conception  of  the  great 
reconciliation  which  he  believed  would  some  day  take 
place  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
Empire. 

"The  one  thing  needful  is  so  to  legislate,  so  to  speak 
and  write  to  each  other  that  this  bond  may  be  strength- 
ened and  not  loosened.  We  want,  should  a  time  op- 
portune arrive,  to  separate  only  in  form.  We  want 
an  everlasting  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  such 
an  alliance  as  may  make  us  absolutely  free  from  the 
fear  of  any  other  alliance  which  could  crush  us." 

433 


Sir  George  Grey 

Sam  Slick,  in  his  homely  fashion,  hit  the  nail 
on  the  head  long  ago,  when,  in  his  "Wise  Saws,"  he 
said : — 

"We  are  two  great  nations,  the  greatest  by  a  long  chalk 
of  any  in  the  world,  speak*  the  same  language,  have  the  same 
religion,  and  our  Constitution  don't  differ  no  great  odds.  We 
ought  to  draw  closer  than  we  do.  We  are  big  enough,  ugly 
enough,  and  strong  enough,  not  to  be  jealous  of  each  other. 
United  we  are  more  nor  a  match  for  all  the  other  nations  put 
together.  Single  we  could  not  stand  against  all,  and  if  one 
was  to  fall,  where  would  the  other  be?  Mournin'  over  the 
grave  that  covers  a  relative  whose  place  can  never  be  filled. 
It's  authors  of  silly  books,  writers  of  silly  papers,  and  dema- 
gogues of  silly  parties,  that  help  to  estrange  us.  I  wish  there 
was  a  gibbet  high  enough  and  strong  enough  to  hang  up  all 
those  enemies  of  mankind." 

A  cool  observer,  who  for  a  long  time  was  a  Nestor 
among  Colonial  statesmen,  Sir  George  Grey  of  New 
Zealand,  in  his  closing  years  loved  to  dwell  upon  the 
future  of  the  English-speaking  race.  "Here  sat  the 
people  of  one  language,"  was  a  sentence  which  he 
used  on  one  occasion  when,  addressing  the  Federal 
Convention  at  Sydney  in  1891,  he  indicated  in  one 
pregnant  phrase  the  territories  occupied  by  our  race. 

No  man  was  more  free  from  Chauvinistic  passion 
than  Sir  George  Grey,  and  few  men  were  more  unspar- 
ing critics  of  the  shortcomings  of  their  countrymen. 
But  in  his  latest  writings  he  placed  his  conviction  on 
record  that,  if  the  reunion  were  but  attained,  "it  would 
mean  the  triumph  of  Christianity,  the  highest  moral 
system  man  in  all  his  history  has  known ;  and  it  would 
imply  the  dominance  of  probably  the  richest  language 
that  has  ever  existed.  The  adoption  of  a  universal  code 
434 


An  Epoch  of  Federation 

of  morals  and  a  universal  tongue  would  pave  the  way 
for  the  last  great  federation — the  brotherhood  of  man." 
In  fine,  we  had  reached  an  epoch  of  federation  which 
was  the  new  form  of  human  economy: — 

"As  its  result  war  would  by  degrees  die  out  from  the  face 
of  the  earth.  If  you  had  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  acting  on  a 
common  ground,  they  could  determine  the  balance  of  power  for 
a  fully  peopled  earth.  Such  a  moral  force  would  be  irre- 
sistible, and  argument  would  take  the  place  of  war  in  the 
settlement  of  international  disputes.  As  the  second  great  re- 
sult of  the  cohesion  of  the  race  we  should  have  life  quick- 
ened and  developed,  and  unemployed  energies  called  into 
action  in  many  places  where  they  now  lie  stagnant." 

For  the  attainment  of  the  greater  unity,  Sir  George 
Grey  suggested  that  the  Governments  at  Washington 
and  Westminster  should  come  to  a  standing  agree- 
ment "that  whenever  any  subject  affecting  us  both 
arises,  or  when  there  is  any  question  affecting  the  well- 
being  of  the  world  generally,  we  shall  meet  in  Con- 
ference and  decide  upon  common  action.  An  Anglo- 
American  Council  coming  quietly  into  action  when 
there  was  cause,  disappearing  for  the  time  when  it 
had  done  its  work,  would  be  a  mighty  instrument  for 
good." 

There  is  no  necessity  for  constituting  an  Anglo- 
American  Council  for  that  purpose.  If  once  the  prin- 
ciple were  accepted,  no  important  question  of  foreign 
policy  would  be  discussed  either  at  Washington  or 
Westminster,  without  previous  consultation  between  the 
Foreign  Secretary  or  Secretary  of  State  through  the 
ordinary  channels  of  diplomatic  intercourse.  The 
American  Ambassador  at  St.  James'  or  the  British 

435 


An  Alliance  of  Self-Defence 

Ambassador  at  Washington,  would  always  be  called 
into  Council  whenever  any  decision  was  taken  involv- 
ing the  possibility  of  foreign  complications.  Such  an 
arrangement  would  be  much  preferable  to  that  of  the 
constitution  of  an  Anglo-American  Council  as  sug- 
gested by  Sir  George  Grey. 

Mr.  Carnegie  shared  the  opinion  of  Sir  George 
Grey  as  to  the  beneficent  influence  which  would  be 
exercised  on  the  world  by  our  reunited  race.  Such 
reunion,  he  declared,  would  give  us  the  future  domin- 
ion of  the  world,  "and  that  for  the  good  of  the  world, 
for  the  English-speaking  race  has  always  stood  first 
among  races  for  peace,  plenty,  liberty,  justice  and  law, 
and  first,  also,  it  will  be  found,  for  the  government  of 
the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people.  It  is  well 
that  the  last  word  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  is  to  be 
ours,  and  is  to  be  spoken  in  plain  English." 

Mr.  Carnegie's  idea,  which  he  expounded  a  little 
more  at  length  in  1899,  maintained  that  patriotism  of 
race  involved  a  mutual  alliance  limited  for  the  pur- 
poses of  self-defence.  "The  present  era  of  good  feel- 
ing," he  said,  "means  that  the  home  of  Shakespeare  and 
Burns  will  never  be  invaded  without  other  than  native- 
born  Britons  being  found  in  its  pavements. 

"This  means  that  the  giant  child,  the  Republic,  is  not 
to  be  sat  upon  by  a  combination  of  other  races,  and 
pushed  to  its  destruction  without  a  growl  coming  from 
the  old  lion,  which  will  shake  the  earth,  but  it  will  not 
mean  that  either  the  old  land  or  the  new  binds  itself 
to  support  the  other  in  all  its  designs,  either  at  home 
or  abroad,  but  that  the  Republic  shall  remain  the  friend 

436 


The  Danger  of  Pride 

• 

of  all  nations  and  the  ally  of  none,  that  being  free 
to-day  of  all  foreign  entanglements,  she  shall  not 
undertake  to  support  Britain  who  has  these  to  deal 
with." 

Sir  Walter  Besant  was  not  less  sanguine  as  to  the 
good  results  which  would  follow  when  the  six  great 
nations — Britain,  the  United  States,  Canada,  Australia, 
New  Zealand  and  South  Africa,  were  united  in  a  fed- 
eration, in  which  a  Board  of  Arbitration  would  be 
the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  union.  He  said: — 

"They  would  be  an  immense  Federation,  free,  lav/- 
abiding, peaceful,  yet  ready  to  fight,  tenacious  of  all 
customs,  dwelling  continually  with  the  same  ideas, 
keeping  each  family  as  the  unit,  every  home  the  centre 
of  the  earth,  every  township  of  a  dozen  men  the  centre 
of  the  Government." 

The  swelling  phrase,  "dominion  of  the  World,"  is 
one  at  which  long  experience  teaches  us  to  look 
askance.  It  should  be  no  ambition  of  ours  to  dominate 
the  world  save  by  the  influence  of  ideas  and  the  force 
of  our  example.  The  temptation  to  believe  that  we 
are  the  Vicegerent  of  the  Almighty,  charged  with  the 
thunderbolt  of  Heaven,  for  the  punishment  of  evil- 
doers, is  one  of  the  subtle  temptations  by  which  the 
Evil  One  lures  well-meaning  people  to  embark  upon 
a  course  of  policy  which  soon  becomes  indistinguish- 
able from  buccaneering  pure  and  simple. 

But  when  all  due  allowance  has  been  made  for  the 
danger  of  exposing  the  English-speaking  man  to  the 
temptation  of  almost  irresistible  power,  the  advantages 
to  be  gained  by  the  Reunion  of  the  Race  are  so  great 

437 


An  Ideal 

as  to  justify  our  incurring-  the  risk.  Such  reunion, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  affords  the  world  not  merely  the 
shortest  but  the  only  road  by  which  we  can  attain  to 
a  realization  of  the  ideal  so  nobly  described  by  Sir  John 
Harrington,  when  writing  in  his  "Oceana,"  he 
asked  :— 

"What  can  you  think  but,  if  the  world  should  sec 
the  Roman  Eagle  again,  she  would  renew  her  age  and 
her  flight?  If  you  add  to  the  propagation  of  civil 
liberty  the  propagation  of  the  liberty  of  conscience,  this 
empire,  this  patronage  of  the  world,  is  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ.  The  Commonwealth  of  this  make  is  a  minister 
of  God  upon  earth,  for  which  cause  the  orders  last 
rehearsed  are  buds  of  empire,  such  as  that  the  blessing 
of  God  may  spread  the  arms  of  your  Commonwealth 
like  a  holy  asylum  to  the  distressed  world,  and  give  the 
earth  her  Sabbath  of  years  cr  rest  from  her  labors 
under  the  shadow  of  your  wings." 


433 


The  Americanization  of 
the  World 


Chapter  Fourth 

The  End  Thereof 

I  HAVE  now  concluded  a  very  rapid  and  most  imper- 
fect survey  of  some  of  the  more  potent  forces  which 
are  Americanizing  the  world.  There  remains  the 
great  question  whether  the  processes  now  visible  in 
operation  around  us  will  make  for  the  progress  and  the 
betterment  of  the  world. 

When  Mr.  Gladstone  contemplated  what  he  called 
"the  paramount  question  of  the  American  future"  he 
expressed  himself  with  the  same  sense  of  awe  which 
filled  the  Hebrew  prophet  when  he  had  a  vision  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  and  His  train  filled  the  Temple. 


"There  is  a  vision,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone,  "of  territory, 
population,  power,  passing  beyond  all  experience.  The  ex- 
hibition to  mankind  for  the  first  time  in  history  of  free  in- 
stitutions on  a  gigantic  scale  is  momentous." 

439 


Mr.  Gladstone's  Questions 

With  his  inveterate  optimism,  he  declared  that  he 
had  enough  faith  in  freedom  to  believe  that  it  would 
work  powerfully  for  good : — 

"But  together  with  and  behind  these  vast  developments 
there  will  come  a  corresponding  opportunity  of  social  and 
moral  influence  to  be  exercised  over  the  rest  of  the  world, 
and  the  question  of  questions  for  us  as  trustees  for  our  pos- 
terity is,  what  will  be  the  nature  of  this  influence?  Will  it 
make  us,  the  children  of  the  senior  race,  living  together  under 
its  action,  better  or  worse?  Not  what  manner  of  producer, 
but  what  manner  of  man  is  the  American  of  the  future  to  be? 
How  is  the  majestic  figure,  who  is  to  become  the  largest  and 
most  powerful  on  the  stage  of  the  world's  history,  to  make 
use  of  his  power  ?" 

And  then  Mr.  Gladstone  went  on  in  his  accustomed 
style  to  ask  various  questions  as  to  how  the  influence 
which  the  American  would  inevitably  exercise  in  the 
world  would  be  used. 

"Will  it,"  he  asked,  "be  instinct  with  moral  life  in  pro- 
portion to  its  material  strength?  One  thing  is  certain,  his 
temptations  will  multiply  with  his  power,  his  responsibilities 
with  his  opportunities.  Will  the  seed  be  sown  among  the 
thorns?  will  worthlessness  overrun  the  ground  and  blight 
its  flowers  and  its  fruit?  On  the  answers  to  these  questions, 
and  to  such  as  these,  it  will  depend  whether  this  new  revela- 
tion of  power  on  the  earth  is  also  to  be  a  revelation  of  virtue, 
whether  it  shall  prove  a  blessing  or  a  curse.  May  Heaven 
avert  every  darker  omen,  and  grant  that  the  latest  and  largest 
growth  of  the  great  Christian  civilization  shall  also  be  the 
brightest  and  best?" 

To  Mr.  Gladstone  all  this  pompous  detail  of  material 
triumphs  was  worse  than  idle,  unless  they  were  re- 
440 


Good  and  Bad  Qualities 

garded  simply  as  tools  and  materials  for  the  attainment 
of  the  highest  purposes  of  our  being.  To  use  his  own 
striking  phrase : — 

"We  must  ascend  from  the  ground  floor  of  material  indus- 
try to  the  higher  regions  in  which  these  nobler  purposes  are 
to  be  wrought  out." 

Those  who  believe  in  progress,  and  those  who  see  in 
the  trend  of  the  centuries  one  endless  march  of  what 
Mazzini  described  as  the  "infinitely  ascending  spiral 
which  leads  from  matter  up  to  God,"  must  perforce 
accept  the  transformation  as  part  of  the  great  law 
which  presides  over  the  evolution  of  human  society ;  but 
it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  that  this  process,  while 
fraught  with  great  and  palpable  advantages,  is  not 
without  its  drawbacks.  Life's  fitful  fever  will  become 
more  feverish  than  ever. 

"The  world  is  too  much  with  us.  Getting  and 
spending  we  lay  waste  our  powers,"  said  Wordsworth, 
and  the  American  tendency  is  to  consume  the  whole  of 
our  powers  in  the  process,  leaving  none  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  higher  soul.  An  English  journalist  who 
had  spent  long  years  in  an  American  newspaper  office 
summed  up  the  difference  between  the  two  branches 
of  the  English-speaking  race  in  a  sentence.  "In  Eng- 
land," he  said,  "you  work  in  order  to  live ;  in  Amer- 
ica, they  live  only  in  order  to  work." 

Each  section  of  the  race  carries  its  natural  tendency 
to  too  great  an  extreme.  Both  would  be  better  were 
each  to  contribute  of  its  best  to  the  common  stock. 

44J 


American  Discontent 

The  rush  and  bustle  of  modern  life,  the  eager  whirl  of 
competitive  business,  the  passionate  rush  to  outstrip  a 
neighbor  or  a  rival — all  these  things  have  their  uses; 
they  tend  to  eliminate. the  unfit,  and  to  give  the  sur- 
vivor superior  efficiency,  just  as  the  speed  of  the  deer 
depends  upon  the  fact  that  from  day  to  day  it  is 
hunted  for  its  life. 

But  this  struggle  for  existence  may  easily  be  carried 
to  such  a  point  as  to  make  existence  itself  hardly  worth 
having.  The  universal  experience  of  the  wisest  and 
best  of  mankind  speaks  with  no  uncertain  voice  in 
condemnation  of  a  life  that  has  no  leisure.  As  one 
wise  writer  said,  "if  you  are  always  catching  trains, 
you  have  no  time  to  think  of  your  soul." 

A  contented  mind  is  a  continual  feast.  But  content 
is  scorned  by  the  go-ahead  American.  I  have  learned, 
said  the  Apostle,  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith 
to  be  content.  But,  says  the  eager  exponent  of  Amer- 
icanism, the  Americans  succeed  because  they  are  never 
contented.  Divine  discontent  is  very  well,  but  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  undivine  discontent,  and  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  the  latter  in  the  United  States  to-day. 

Possibly,  when  the  country  is  a  little  older,  this  tem- 
pestuous eagerness  natural  to  youth  may  give  way  to 
a  more  sedate  and  tranquil  spirit,  but  at  present  there 
is  very  little  evidence  of  that  in  the  United  States.  It 
not  only  does  not  exist,  but  the  American  journalists 
glory  in  its  absence.  The  following  quotation  from 
an  editorial  in  the  New  York  Evening  Journal  of  this 
year  expresses  this  point  of  view  with  an  uncompro- 
mising vigor  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired : — 
442 


Look  on  This  Picture 

"The  nations  of  Europe,  and  especially  the  English,  wonder 
at  the  success  of  the  American  people. 

"If  any  Englishman  wants  to  know  why  the  American  race 
can  beat  the  English  race  in  the  struggle  for  industrial  pre- 
cedence, let  him  stand  at  the  Delaware-Lackawanna  station, 
in  Hoboken,  from  seven  until  nine  in  the  morning  as  the 
suburban  trains  come  in. 

"Far  outside  of  the  big  railroad  station  the  train  appears, 
puffing  and  panting,  and  while  it  is  still  going  at  dangerous 
speed,  men,  young  and  old,  are  seen  leaning  far  out  from 
every  platform. 

"As  the  train  rushes  in  the  men  leap  from  the  cars  on 
both  sides,  and  a  wild  rush  follows  for  the  ferryboat.  Not  a 
man  is  walking  slowly  or  deliberately. 

"It  is  one  rush  to  business;  it  is  one  rush  all  day;  it  is  one 
rush  home  again. 

"The  gauge  on  the  engine  tells  the  pressure  of  steam  and 
the  work  that  the  engine  can  do. 

"The  gauge  on  the  American  human  being  stands  at  high 
pressure  all  the  time.  His  brain  is  constantly  excited,  his 
machinery  is  working  with  a  full  head  of  steam. 

"Tissues  are  burned  up  rapidly,  and  the  machine  often  burns 
up  sooner  than  it  should.  The  man  bald  and  gray  in  his  youth ; 
the  man  a  victim  of  dyspepsia,  of  nervousness,  of  narcotics 
and  stimulants,  is  a  distinct  American  institution.  He  is  an 
engine  burned  out  before  his  time;  but  his  work  has  been 
done,  and  that  the  great  locomotive  works,  THE  AMERICAN 
MOTHER,  is  for  ever  supplying  the  demand  for  new  engines  to 
be  run  at  dangerously  high  speed. 

"The  American  succeeds  because  he  is  under  high  pressure 
always,  because  he  is  determined  to  make  speed  even  at  the 
risk  of  bursting  the  boiler  and  wrecking  the  machine." 

This  is  an  unlovely  spectacle,  which  seems  to  those 
of  us  who  are  not  without  sympathy  with  the  strenu- 
ous life,  very  much  like  a  vision  of  hell. 

443 


And  on  This 

How  great  a  contrast  to  the  calm,  philosophic 
life  of  thought,  which  is  the  ideal  of  the  Eastern 
Sage! 

"The    East    bovve'd    low    in    solemn    thought 

In  silent  deep  disdain, 
She   heard   the   legions    thunder   past, 
Then  plunged  in  thought  again." 

In  Asia  whole  populations  have  learned  the  lesson 
that  life  is  better  spent  in  the  contented  possession  of  a 
few  things  than  in  the  mad  rush  after  many.  There 
is  a  wealth  which  arises  from  the  fewness  of  our 
wants,  as  well  as  a  wealth  that  is  measured  by  the 
amplitude  of  our  resources. 

"  Tis    not    all    of    life    to    live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die," 

and  the  solemn  inquiry  still  holds — "What  shall  it 
profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose 
his  own  soul  ?" 


444 


Index 


Abbey,  E.  A.,  305. 

Adams,  Brooks,  on  the  West 

Indies,  72. 
Adams,  Francis,  on  Australia, 

136. 

AFRICA: 
SOUTH  AFRICA  : 
A  Second  Ireland,  31. 
The  Jameson  Conspiracy, 

51-61. 

President  Kruger  and  the 
Outlanders,  51-61. 
British    Incompetence    in 

S.  Africa,  58-61. 
The  Native  Question,  61. 
Military    Despotism,    63- 

65- 

Federation,  63. 
The  Diamond  Mines,  68, 

375- 
The  Canadian  Contingent 

in  the  War,  95-96,  109, 

117,  121. 

The    Australian    Contin- 
gent in  the  War,   131- 

138. 
Portugal     and      Delagoa 

Bay,  66-67. 
Germany  and   S.   Africa, 

66-67. 
The    Americanization    of 

S.  Africa,  51-69. 
England    in    Egypt,  236- 

237- 

The  Cape  to  Cairo  Rail- 
way, 362. 
The    American    Missions 

in  Africa,  197. 


Aguinaldo,  202. 
Alaskan  Dispute,  242. 
Alexander,   J.   W.,   307. 
Aman-Jean,  E.,  on  American 

Art,  308-309. 

AMERICA  (see  also  Canada, 

Newfoundland,       United 

States,   Central   America, 

South  America,  etc. )  : 

America     under     European 

Powers,  243-244. 
Pan-American    Arbitration, 

248-258. 

AMERICANIZATION     OF 
THE  WORLD : 
Great  Britain,  1-26. 
Ireland,  27-50. 
South  Africa,  51-69. 
Newfoundland  and  Canada, 

83-122. 

Australia,  123-144. 
Germany  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary, 163-182. 
The  Ottoman  Empire,  183- 

198. 

Asia,  109-213. 

Central   and    South   Amer- 
ica, 214-228. 
The     American     Invasion, 

342-359. 

Summing- Up,  381-444. 
Reunion    of    the    English- 
Speaking      Race,      17-50, 
418-438. 

Andrews,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  212. 
Arbitration,  International,  see 

under  Peace  Movement. 
Architecture    in    the    United 
States,  309. 

445 


Index 


ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC: 
The  Latin  Population,  219- 

220. 

British  Capital,  218. 
Argentine  for  the  Germans, 

223. 
Argyle,  Duke  of, 

On  England  and  the  United 

States,   157. 

On   Germany  and   the   Ar- 
gentine Republic,  223. 
On  the  French   Canadians, 

106. 
Armenia:  American  Missions, 

191-192. 
Art  of  the  United  States.  294- 

295.  304-3.10. 
Asia,  Americanization  of,  199- 

213. 

Astor,  W.  W.,  330. 
Astronomy,  313. 
Athletics    in    America,     340- 

341- 

Atkinson,  Edw.,  on  the  Pur- 
chase  of    New    Brunswick, 
Nova    Scotia,    and    Prince 
Edward      Island      by      the 
United  States,  104. 
'Atlantic  Monthly  quoted,  180. 
AUSTRALASIA     and     the 
Australian     Commonwealth 
(see  also  New  Zealand)  : 
The   New   Commonwealth; 

Map,  154- 

The    Constitution,    127-129. 

The  Australian  High  Court 

and    the    Privy    Council, 

125-126. 

Marriage       and       Divorce 

Laws,  127. 
Population,  130-141. 
German       Emigration       to 

Australia,  140-142. 
The    Question    of    Colored 
Labor,  131-133. 

446 


The  Tariff,  124. 

The  Australian  Contingent 

in  S.  Africa,  55,  56. 
The      Americanization      of 

Australia,  123-144. 
A  Monroe  Doctrine  for  the 

Pacific,  128-130. 
The  Case  of  New  Guinea, 

128. 
America  in  the  Pacific,  199- 

205. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: 
Germany  and  Austria,  15. 
Tariffs,  177-178. 
The      Americanization      of 
Austria-Hungary,        175- 
177. 

Avcnir  du  Nord  quoted,  m- 
112. 

Babcock,  K.  C.,  on  the  Scan- 
dinavians in  the  United 
States.  158. 

Bachmetieff,  M.,  185. 

Bahamas,  71. 

Bakewell,  Mr.,  on  New  Zea- 
land, 143. 

Balfour,  A.  J., 
On  England  and  America, 

16. 
On  Coercion  in  Ireland,  99. 

Balkan  States,  183-198. 

Ball,  Sir  Robert,  on  Amer- 
ican Astronomy,  313. 

Banana-Growing  in  Jamaica, 

74- 

Bancroft,  George,  on  the  Pop- 
ulation of  the  United 
States,  151. 

Barbadoes,  71. 

Bayard,  T.  F.,  on  Canada 
and  the  American  Civil 
War,  95- 


Index 


Beecher,  Rev.  Henry  Ward, 
267,  274. 

Belgium,  Prince  Albert  of,  on 
the  American  Invasion,  179. 

Bellamy,  Edward,  289. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  329. 

Berlin  Americanized,  164. 

Berlin  Congress  and  Berlin 
Treaty,  187-188. 

Bermuda.  £i. 

Besant,  Sir  Walter,  on  Anglo- 
American  Reunion,  414, 
433-.  4.  7- 

Beveridge,  Senator,  on  Amer- 
ican Expansion.  203-204. 

Bildt,  Baroness  de,  310. 

Bismarck,  Prince,  on  German 
Unity.  15. 

Boating  in  America,  334-336. 

Bosan  de  Perigord  and  Tal- 
leyrand, Countess,  328. 

Boston  Journal  quoted,  79. 

Bourinot,  Sir  J.  G.,  referred 
to,  109. 

Brazil  for  the  Germans,  166- 
167,  224. 

Bridge  Building,  361-363. 

British  Empire,  see  Colonies 
and  Empire. 

Brooks,  Sydney,,  on  a  Euro- 
pean Customs  Union,  180. 

Brougham,  Lord,  quoted.  270. 

Bryan,  Col.  C.  P.,  on  Brazil, 
224. 

Bryce,  James,  on  the  Ameri- 
can Constitution.  24. 

Bulgaria,  Principality  of,  185- 
190. 

Bushnell,  Dr.  Kate.  212. 

Byron,  Lord,  quoted,  260. 

CANADA : 

The  Constitution  of  the  Do- 
minion, 119. 


The  Right  of  Secession,  91. 

Population,  92-120. 

The  Irish  in  Canada,  99. 

The  French-Canadians,  105- 
ii5- 

Treatment  of  the  Indians, 
1 20. 

Mineral  Wealth,  101. 

The  Klondyke  Gold  Mines, 
104. 

The  Question  of  Tariffs,  94- 
117. 

The  Americanization  of 
Canada,  92-122. 

The  Question  of  Annexa- 
tion by  the  United  States, 

1 10- 122. 

Fisheries  Dispute  between 
Nova  Scotia  and  Massa- 
chusetts, 103. 

Suggested  Purchase  of  New 
Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  Prince  Edward  Isl- 
and by  the  United  States, 
104. 

Canadians  and  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War,  94-95. 

Canadians  and  the  War  in 
S.  Africa,  95,  96,  109, 
117,  121. 

The  Duke  of  Cornwall  and 
York's  Visit  to  Canada, 
m. 

Canals,  see  Nicaragua,  Pan- 
ama. 

Canevaro,    Adm.,    on   Ameri- 
can Competition,   179. 
Canning,     George,     and    the 

Monroe  Doctrine,  230. 
Carnegie,  Andrew : 

On  Canada,  114-117. 

On  International  Arbitra- 
tion, 251. 

On  the  Mineral  Resources 
of  Great  Britain,  356. 


447 


Index 


On  Anglo-American  Feder- 
ation,  406-411,    419,    425- 
426,  436. 
Other    References,   330-333, 

362-363. 

Catholic  Church : 
The  French  in  Canada,  fos- 

112. 
The  Catholics  in  America, 

255-258,  261,  274,  275. 
Catholic  Missions,  198. 
Centennial  quoted,  141. 
CENTRAL  AMERICA: 
Map,  247. 
Statistics,  219-220. 
The      Americanization      of 
Central  America,  225-228. 
The    Isthmian    Canal,    225- 

228. 
The  Monroe  Doctrine,  229- 

247. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph, 
His   South  African  Policy, 

51-69. 

His  Policy  in  the  West  In- 
dies, 70-82. 
His   Attitude  to  Australia. 

123-128,  132. 
On  the  Right  of  Secession, 

91. 

Other  References,  376.  409. 
Chamberlain,      Mrs.     Joseph, 

326. 

Chicago  Record-Herald  quot- 
ed, 186. 
Chili,  218. 

Chimay  and  Caraman,   Prin- 
cess de,  327. 
CHINA: 

The  Crisis  in  China.  206. 
The     United      States     and 

China.  206-208. 
The      American      Mission- 
aries.   208,    212. 

448 


Choate,  J.  H..  «n  American 
Democracy,  393. 

Christian  Endeavor  Move- 
ment, 272-273. 

CHURCH  AND  CHRISTI- 
ANITY: 

Christians  and  Jews,  3. 
The    Catholics    in    Canada, 

104-112. 
The  Catholics  in  America, 

255-258,  261,  274,  275. 
Religion    in      the      United 

States,  255-275. 
Foreign  Missions,  see  Mis- 
sions  (Foreign). 

Churchill,  Lord  Randolph, 
323-326. 

Civil  War  of  America :  Atti- 
tude of  Canada,  94. 

Clark,  Rev.  F.  E.,  273. 

Clark,  Prof.  J.  B.,  378. 

Clarke,  Sir  Edward,  on  Mur- 
der for  Profit,  203. 

Cleveland.  President,  58. 

Clubs  for  Americans  in  Lon- 
don, 331. 

Cobden.  Richard, 
On  America.  412-413. 
On  the  Americans  and  Tur- 
key. 193. 

On  Education  in  America, 
384-385- 

Cockburn,  Sir  John,  on  the 
Australian  Constitution, 
126. 

Coghlan.  Mr.,  on  the  Popula- 
tion of  Australia,  139. 

COLONIES  AND  THE 
BRITISH  EMPIRE: 

The     British    Constitution, 

18-26. 

Great  Britain  and  Her  Col- 
onies, 429-431. 


Index 


Population  and  Area   4-12. 

Finance,    11-12. 

The     Americanization      of 
England,  17-25. 

The  British  in  America,  43. 

The  Americanization  of  Ire- 
land, 27-50. 

The    Government    of    Ire- 
land, 27-50. 

The   Irish   in   America,   41. 

The    South    African   Ques- 
tion, 51-69. 

The  Case  of  the  West  In- 
dies, 70-82. 

Newfoundland  and  Canada, 
83-122. 

Australia    and    New    Zea- 
land, 123-144. 

Anglo-American     Reunion, 

17-50.  396-438. 
Conger,  E.  H.,  208. 
Contemporary   Review    quot- 
ed, 50,  415-416,  433. 
Cooper,  J.  Fenimore,  284. 
Corea :  Openings  for  Ameri- 
can Capital,  211. 
Cornwall  and  York,  Duke  of. 

in    Canada,     in;     in    New 

Zealand,  143. 
Corn  wall  is- West,    Mrs.    Geo., 

326. 
Coyle,  E.  J.,  on  the  Foreign 

Elements     in     the     United 

States,  158. 
Croker,  Richard, 

On  Expansion,  205. 

Other  References,  42,  338. 
Cromwell,     Oliver,    71,    420- 

421. 
Crucible   of  Nations    (in  the 

United  States),  145-160. 
Cuba:  The  American  Protec- 
torate, 45,  76,  79-80. 
Cummins,  Mr.,  on  the  Ameri- 
can People,  147, 


Cunnliff,  Mr.,  quoted,  367- 
368- 

Curtis,  W.  E.,  on  the  Ameri- 
can Missions  in  Bulgaria. 
186. 

Curzon,  Lord,  Viceroy  of  In- 
dia, 213. 

Curzon,  Lady,  of  Kedleston, 
326. 

Davies,  Prof.  H.,  on  Canada, 
118. 

Delagoa  Bay,  66-67. 

Democracy  in  the  United 
States,  393-394- 

Denmark  and  the  West  In- 
dies, 243-245. 

Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  on 
American  Railways,  369. 

Derby,  isth  Earl  of.  oh  An- 
glo-American Reunion,  402. 

Deutsche  Revue,  quoted,  223. 

Diamond  Mines  of  Kimber- 
ley,  68,  375- 

Dicey,  Mr.,  on  Common  Citi- 
zenship, 423-424. 

Dillon,  Dr.  E.  J.,  402. 

Dominica,  72. 

Dryden,  Mr.,  Canadian  in 
Dakota, 

Dufferin,  Marquis  of,  on  the 
American  People,  318. 

Duffy.  Sir  C.  Gavan,  on  Aus- 
tralia. 137. 

Durham,  ist  Earl  of,  and  His 
Mission  to  Canada,  105. 

East  Indies,  Dutch  Posses- 
sions, 129-130. 

Education  in  England  and  in 
the  United  States,  384-388. 

Egypt:  English  Administra- 
tion, 236-237. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  279. 

Emigration  to  the  United 
States,  156-158. 

449 


Index 


Empire,  see  Colonies  and  Em- 
pire. 
Engineering.        Locomotives, 

&c.,  American  Competition 

with  England.  342-359-  360- 

37i. 
English     Language     in     the 

United  States,  157-160,  302, 

303. 
English  People;  a  Composite 

Race,   148. 
English-Speaking  World : 

The  United  States  and  the 
British  Empire,  1-3. 

Basis  for  Reunion,  17-26. 

Steps  Towards  Reunion, 
17-25,  418-438. 

The  Americanization  of  the 
World,  see  Americaniza- 
tion. 

Entwhistle,  Edward,  360. 
d'Estournelles     de    Constant, 

Baroness,  319. 
Europe,    Americanization    of, 

161-182. 
Evans,  Mr.,  on  Canada,  92. 

Finance  (see  also  Tariffs  un- 
der Protection)  : 
Finance  of  the  British  Em- 
pire   and    of    the    United 
States,  11-12. 
American  Competition,  342- 

380. 

Finney.  Prof.,  268. 
Finot,  Jean,  on  the  American 

Plutocracy,  322. 
Fisheries  Disputes : 

France  and  Newfoundland. 

83-92- 

Nova  Scotia  and  Massachu- 
setts, 113. 
Foraker  Act  in   Porto   Rico, 

Ford.  Patrick,  referred  to,  41. 
450 


Fortnightly    Review    quoted, 

432- 
Forum  quoted,  158. 

FRANCE: 
Population,     Finance,     &c., 

11-12. 

France  and  Newfoundland, 

83-92. 
France    and    Canada,    105- 

ii5- 
A  Franco-Russian  Alliance. 

428-429. 

Franklin.   Benjamin.  278. 
Frechette,       Louis,     on      the 
United  States  and  Canada, 
no. 

Fremdcnblatt  quoted.   175. 
Furness,  Sir  Christopher,  on 
the  Trust,  377. 

Gage,   Lyman  J.,   on   Ameri- 
can Ships,  374. 
George  III.  and  the  American 

Colonies,  6,  21,  401-407. 
George,  Henry, 
On  Australia.  137-138. 
Literary  Work,  288. 
GERMANY : 
German  Unity,   13-15. 
Germany  and   Austria,    13- 

J5- 
Population,     Finance,     &c., 

11-12. 
Increase  of  the  Navy,  170- 

171. 
Imports    from    the    United 

States,    169-170. 
European  Customs    Union. 

Need  for  a.  161-182. 
Germans  as  Colonists,  140- 

142. 

German  Colonies,  167. 
Germany  and  S.  Africa,  66- 

67- 
Germany  in  the  Pacific,  131, 


Index 


Germany  and    Samoa,   200. 
Germany  and  the  West  In- 
dies, 72. 
Germany   and    Brazil,    166- 

167,  224. 
Argentina  for  the  Germans, 

223. 
The  Germans  in  the  United 

States,    165-166. 
The     Americanization      of 

Germany,   163-170. 
Kaiser  or  the  Americaniza- 
tion of  Germany,  164-:  70. 
Gladstone,  W.  E.. 
On    the     English-Speaking 

Race,  198. 
On     England     and    Egypt, 

236. 

On  the  American  Constitu- 
tion,  25. 

On  American  Trade  Meth- 
ods, 346-347. 
On    the   American   Future, 

439-441- 
Goblet    d'Alviella,    Countess, 

328. 

Gold  Mines : 
S.  Africa,  55-64. 
Klondyke,  104-105. 
Goluchowski,    Count    A.,    on 
American  Competition,  168- 
177. 

Gomez,  Gen.,  on  Cuba,  80. 
Gorst,    Sir   John,    on    Educa- 
tion in  England,  387. 
Great    Britain    and    the    Brit- 
ish  Empire,    see     Colonies 
and   Empire. 
Grey,  Earl,  421. 
Grey,    Sir    Edward,    referred 

to,  73. 

Grey,  Sir  Georee,  on  Anglo- 
American  Federation,  434- 
436. 


Guiana,  British,  81. 

Griffin,  Mrs.  Hugh  Reid,  331. 

Hague  Peace  Conference,  253. 

Halle,  Dr.  von,  on  the  Amer- 
ican Shipyards,  371. 

Hamburg  Americanized,  164. 

Hammond,  John  Hays,  57. 

Harrington,  Sir  John,  quoted, 
438. 

Harris,    Joel    Chandler,    288- 
289. 

Harrison,  Frederic,  on  Amer- 
ica, 297.  386. 

Hartzell,    Bishop,    198. 

Hatzfeldt,  Countess,  318. 

Hawaii  Annexed  by  the  Unit- 
ed States,  200. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  282. 

Hay,  John, 
On  the    Monroe     Doctrine, 

239-240. 
On     American     Policy     in 

China,  206. 

On  England  and  the  Unit- 
ed States,  431. 

Hayti,  81. 

Hazeltine,  W.  M.,  on  Canada, 

Hearst,  W.  R.,  and  His  News- 
papers, 295-300. 

Hecker,  Father,  274-275. 

Helleben,  Dr.  von,  173. 

Herbert,  Hon.  Mrs.  M.,  319. 

Holland   in   the   East   Indies, 
129. 

Holls,  F.  W.,  and  the  Peace 
Conference,  253. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  286. 

Home,  D.  D.,  270. 

Horses  and  Racing  in  Amer- 
ica, 337-339- 

Howells,    W.    D., 
On    the    American    People. 
147. 

45J 


Index 


Howells,  W.  D., 
On    the    Monroe    Doctrine, 

231. 
Huskisson,  Mr.,  360. 

Independence  Day,  419-420. 
Independence,  Declaration  of, 

33- 
INDIA: 

The  Americans  and  India, 

212. 

Official  Regulation  of  Vice, 

212. 

Indians  of  America.  120. 
IRELAND : 
Home  Rule,  50,  415-417. 
Irish  Discontent,  28. 
The  Irish  in  America,  41, 

459- 

The    Irish    in    Newfound- 
land, 89-99. 

The  Irish  in  Canada,  99. 
The     Americanization      of 

Ireland,  27-50. 
Irish   Language   in    America, 

159- 
Irving,  Washington,  285. 

JAMAICA: 

Cromwell's  Conquest,  71. 

Sugar-Growing,    70-82. 

Bananas,  74. 

Exports  and  Imports,  78-79. 
Jamaica      Daily       Telegraph 

quoted,  74. 

James  I.  Referred  to,  93. 
Jameson  Conspiracy  in  South 

Africa,  51-61. 
JAPAN: 

The   Labor   Question,    132- 

!33- 
The  Awakening    of  Japan, 

209-210. 
Monument    to  Commodore 

Perry,  209. 

452 


The  American  Treaty,  1853, 

210. 
Bombardment  of  Shimono- 

seki.  210. 
Assassination      of      Hoshi 

Toru,  211. 

Jews  and  Christians,  3. 
Journalism : 

American    Topics    in    Eng- 
lish Newspapers,  422-423. 
Journalism  in    the    United 

States.  290-300. 
July  4   Celebrations.   419-420. 

Kaneko,  Baron  K.,  on  Amer- 
ica and  Japan,  209. 

Kasson,  J.  A.,  on  Reciprocity, 
178. 

Kekewich,  Col.,  Referred  to, 
63. 

Kimberley  Diamond  Mines. 
68,  375- 

Kingsley.  Charles,  on  the 
West  Indies.  71. 

Kipling.    Rudyard,    203. 

Klatte,  Dr.  W.,  on  American 
Music,  316-317. 

Klondyke  Gold  Mines,  104- 
105. 

Klumpke  Sisters,  311-312. 

Korea :  Openings  for  Ameri- 
can Capital,  211. 

Kossuroth,  Mrs.  W.  B.,   186. 

Labor  Questions: 

Incentives     to     Workmen, 

382,  388-392- 
Profit-Sharing      and      Co- 

Partnership,   391. 
Colored  Labor,  131-133- 

Lamar,  Senator,  on  an  Anglo- 
American  Alliance,  431. 

Laurier.  Sir  W., 
On  Canada,  99,  ill. 
On  Irish  Home  Rule.  TOO. 

Lefevre,  G.  Shaw,    on     Eng- 


Index 


land  and    South    America, 

217-218. 
Leng,  Sir  John,  on  the  Patent 

Laws,  392. 
Leroy-Beaulieu,   Paul,    on     a 

European  Zollverein,  179. 
Life  quoted,  329. 
Lipton,  Sir  Thomas,  335- 
Literature  and  Journalism  in 

the  United  States,  276-303. 
Lloyd,  Henry  Demarest,  289, 

375- 

Longfellow,      Henry     Wads- 
worth,  280. 
Lowell,  James  Russell, 

Quoted,  16,  276. 

Literary  Work,  281. 
Lynch    Law    in    the    United 

States,    156. 

Macaulay,  Lord,  Referred  to, 
161. 

Macedonia  under  Turkish 
Rule,  186-188. 

McGovern,  Chauncey,  Quot- 
ed, 11-12. 

McHugh,  P.  A.,  Referred  to, 
49- 

Mackenzie,  Fred,  on  the 
American  Invasion,  353- 
3^5- 

McKinley,    President, 
His  Attitude  to  South  Af- 
rica, 66. 

On  Canada,  115. 
On    Reciprocity,    177-178. 

Mahan.  Capt,  and  an  Ameri- 
can Navy,  371. 

MAPS: 

Possessions  of  the  English- 
Speaking  Race,  Frontis- 
piece. 

Europe  and  America  com- 
pared, 246. 


West    Indies,    British    and 

American,  68. 
Central   America    and     the 

Rival  Canals,   247. 
Australasia,   154. 
Marlborough,      Duchess      of, 

326. 
Marriage : 

Marriage  and    Divorce    in 

Australia,  127. 
American  Wives  in  Europe, 

318-333. 

Martin,  Mrs.  Biddulph,  328. 
Maxim,  Sir  Hiram, 
On  Canada,  103. 
On  English  and  American 

Tools,   352-353- 
On  Anglo-American  Feder- 
ation, 406. 
Mein,  Capt.,  57- 
Methot,  Miss  M.,  315. 
Mexico :      The     Tehuantepec 

Railway,  227-228. 
Milner,  Lord,  and  S.  Africa, 

51-61,  in. 
Mines : 

Kimberley    Diamonds,    68, 

375-. 

Gold  in  S.  Africa,  55-64. 
Gold  of  Klondyke,  104. 
Mines  of  Canada,  101. 
Minto,   Earl  of,   in. 
Missions,  Foreign, 
Missions    of    the    English- 
Speaking  World ;   Statis- 
tics, 197. 
American    Missionaries     in 

Turkey,  &c.,  183-198. 
American    Missionaries     in 

Asia,  208-212. 

Monaco,  Princess  of,  326.     . 
Monarchy  and  Republic,  17. 
Monod,  Mme.  Henri,  328. 
Monroe,  President  James, 
Quoted,  229. 

453 


Index 


MONROE  DOCTRINE: 
What  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

is,  229-247. 

The  Klondyke  Case,  104-105 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  in  S. 

America,      167,     215-216, 

229-247. 

The    Venezuelan     Dispute, 

55-61,  231,  241,  251. 
A  Monroe  Doctrine  for  the 

Pacific,  128-130. 
Other  Reference,  81. 
Montesquieu  Referred  to,  26. 
Moody.  D.  L.,  269. 
Moore,  Mrs.  Blomfield,  328 
Morgan,  J.  Pierpont, 
His   Purchase  of  the  Ley- 
land    Line   of    Steamers, 
372-371. 

Other  References,  331.  375. 
Mossouloff.  General,  191. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  285. 
Murray,  David    Christie,    on 

Australia,  136. 

Music  of  the    United    States, 
3I4-3I7- 

National  Review  Quoted,  75. 
Nauticus  on  Anglo-American 

Reunion,  432. 
Navies : 

Increase     of     the     German 
Navy,  170-171. 

An    American    Navy.     3?i- 

372- 
Negroes  of  the  United  States, 

I5S-IS6. 

Nevada,  Emma.  315. 
New   Brunswick,    104. 
New  Guinea :    Australia    and 

a  Protectorate,  128-130. 
New    York    Herald    Quoted, 

173- 
New  York  Journal,  &c.,  295- 

299. 
454 


NEW  ZEALAND  r 

An  Independent  Communi- 
ty, 144- 

Visit  of  the  Duke  of  Corn- 
wall and  York,  143. 

New  Zealand  and  the  Pa- 
cific, 130. 

The  United  States  and  New 
Zealand,  142-143. 

NEWFOUNDLAND : 

The  Americanization  of 
Newfoundland,  83-91. 

France  and  the  Fisheries, 
83-91. 

The  Irish  in  Newfound- 
land, 89-90. 

Nicaragua  Canal,  225-228. 
Nineteenth    Century    Quoted. 

47,  14?,  297,  408. 
Nonconformists  in  the  United 

States,  264-267. 
North       American       Reviciv 

Quoted,  157,  406,  428.    • 
Nova  Scotia,  93-105. 
Novoye  Vrernya  Quoted,  14. 

O'Brien,  William,  on  Ireland 
and  America,  47. 

Olney,  Richard, 
Mr.  Olney  and  the  Monroe 

Doctrine,  229-247. 
On   War,  251. 

Ottoman  Empire,  see  Turkey. 

Outlanders     of     the     Trans- 
vaal, see  under  Africa. 

PACIFIC  ISLANDS: 

A  Monroe  Doctrine  for  the 
Pacific,  128-130. 

New  Zealand  and  the  Pa- 
cific, 130. 

The  Case  of  New  Guinea, 
128-130. 

Germany     in     the     Pacific. 

131,  200. 


Index 


The  Americans   in    Samoa, 

200. 
American     Annexation    of 

Hawaii,  200. 
American     Annexation     of 

the     Philippine     Islands, 

201-202. 

The  Dutch  East  Indies,  129- 

130. 

Paget,  Mrs.  Arthur.  328. 
Pan-American   Problems,   see 

under  America. 
Panama  Canal,  225-228. 
Parliamentary: 
The    English    Constitution, 

17-25. 

Monarchy  and  Republic,  17. 
Colonial       and      American 
Constitutions,   see    under 
Canada,  Australasia,Unit- 
ed  States,  &c. 
Patent   Laws,    392-393. 
Pauncefote,     Lord,     and    the 

Peace  Conference,  253. 
Peabody,  George,  332. 
Peace  and   International   Ar- 
bitration : 
The      Hague      Conference, 

253- 

International      Arbitrations 
in    Anglo-American    Dis- 
putes, 249-250. 
The  United  States  and  In- 
ternational      Arbitration, 
248-254. 
Pan-American    Arbitration, 

247-252. 
Pearson's   Magazine    Quoted, 

12. 

Peetz,  Dr.,  on  American  Com- 
petition. 175. 
Periodical  Literature    in    the 

United  States,  300. 
Perry,     Commodore,     Monu- 
ment to,  in  Japan,  209. 


Peru,  219-221,  255-256. 
Philippine  Islands :  American 

Annexation,  44,  201-202. 
Phipps,  Mr.,   330. 
Pickering,  Prof.,  313. 
Pingree,     Governor,     on    the 

Trust,  376. 
Pirbright,  Lord,  on  the  West 

Indies,  75. 
Poe,  E.  A.,  284. 
Polo  in  America,  340. 
Popoff,  Mrs.,  186. 

POPULATION : 
The  World,  8-12. 
The    British    Empire,   4-12. 
Other  European  Countries, 

8-12. 
The  United  States,  4-12,  43, 

92,  151-156. 
Canada,  92,  118. 
Australia,  139. 

PORTO  RICO: 

American   Rule,   76-82. 

Sugar-Growing,  76-82. 
Portugal    and    South    Africa, 

66-67. 

Prince  Edward  Island,   104. 
Privy  Council,  Australia  and, 

125-126. 
Proctor,   Senator,  on   Britain 

and    the    United    States    in 

Asia  and  the  Pacific,  128. 

PROTECTION  AND  FREE 

TRADE: 

The  Sugar  Question,  70-82. 
The  Tariff  in  Canada,  94- 

117. 
The     Tariff    in    Australia, 

124-125. 

The  Tariff  in  Austria.  175. 
A        European        Customs 

Union,  174-181. 
Reciorocity,    176-181. 
Free  Trade,   343-345. 
455 


Index 


Protection,     The      Coming 
Slump  in,  427. 

Quarterly  Review  Referred 
to.  24. 

Racing,  &c.,  337-339-         '* 

RAILWAYS : 

Railways     in     the     United 

States.  369-370. 
George  Stephenson  and  the 

"Rocket,"  360. 
American  Locomotives,  &c., 
in  England,  360-371. 

Redmond,  John,    41,  44,  i<"°- 

Reid,  Sir  Wemyss,  on  the 
West  Indies,  81. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  on  the  Min- 
isters of  the  Crown,  22. 

Religion,  see  Church  and 
Christianity. 

Remus,  Uncle,  287. 

Republic  and  Monarchy,  17. 

Reunion  of  the  English- 
Speaking  Race,  17-25,  396- 
438. 

Reunion  Day,  420-421. 

Review  of  Reviews  referred 
to,  124. 

Review  of  Reviews  (Amer- 
ica), referred  to,  300. 

Review  of  Reviews  (Austral- 
asia) referred  to,  124. 

Revue  de  Paris  quoted,  17 1. 

Rhodes.  Cecil  J., 
On  S.  Africa,  51-69. 
On  Argentina.  222. 
On    the    American    Consti- 
tution. 26. 

On  Anglo-American  Feder- 
ation. 403. 
Other  References,  362-375. 

Robert  College,  189-192. 

Roberts.  Earl,  and  the  Army 
in  India,  213. 

Rockefeller,  J.  D.,  375. 

456 


Roosevelt,     President     Theo- 
dore. 

On  Canada  and  the  United 
States.    112. 

On  Reciprocity,  178. 

On    the    Monroe   Doctrine, 
229-247. 

On     the     American     Navy, 
371-373- 

On  the  Trust,  378. 

Other  References,  156,  216. 
Rosebury.  Earl  of, 

On  American  Energy,  3-7. 

On     Anglo-American     K 

union.   399-400. 
Russell,    T.    W..    on    French 

Quebec,  106. 

RUSSIA : 

Population,  Finance,  etc..  8- 

12. 

A  Democratic  Country,  163. 
A  Franco-Russian  Alliance, 

428-429. 
Russia      and      the      United 

States. 
Ryswick.  Treaty  of,  84. 

Salisbury,  Marquis  of,  on  the 
American  Constitution,  26. 

Samoa,  German  and  Amer- 
ican, 200. 

San  Domingo.  81. 

San  Stefano,  Treaty  of,  187. 

Sandwich  Islands :  Awe1"- 
ican  Annexation  of  Hawaii. 
200. 

Sankey.  Ira  D.,  269. 

Santa  Lucia.  72. 

Sargent,  J.  S.,  305-306. 

Scandinavians  in  America, 
305-306. 

Science  in  the  United  States 
310-314. 

Scientific  American  quoted, 
386. 


Index 


Segur,  Pierre  tie,  quoted,  171. 
Servia,    King    Alexander    of, 

320. 

Seward,  Secretary,  on  Canada 
and  the  United   States,  92. 
Shaw,   Dr.  Albert, 
On  Home  Rule,  50,  416. 
On  the  British  Empire,  415- 

416. 

On  the  West  Indies, 
Sheldon,  Rev.  C.  M.,  289. 
Sherman.    Senator,   on   Inter- 
national Arbitration,  251. 
Shipping  and  Shipbuilding: 
Shipbuilding     in     England 
and  in  the  United  States, 
371-375. 

The      Leyland      Line      of 
Steamers    sold    to    J.    P. 
Morgan,  372-373- 
Slick,  Sam.  286;  quoted.  4.34. 
Smith.     Adam,     on     Anglo- 
American    Federation,   397- 
308. 

Smith,  Prof.  Goldwin, 
On  the  French  in  Canada. 

105-108. 
On    Canada    and    England, 

245- 
Sotaro,      Iba,      Assassin     of 

Hoshi  Toru,  211. 
Sotisa,  J.  P.,  314. 

SOUTH  AMERICA: 

Statistics,  219-220. 

The  Nationalities  in  Latin 
America.  210-220. 

Religion  of  S.  America, 
255-258. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  and 
S.  America.  167.  215-217, 
229-247. 

The  Isthmian  Canal,  225- 
228. 

British  Capital  in  S.  Amer- 
ica, 218. 


Brazil     for    the     Germans, 

106-167,  224-225. 
Argentina  for  the  Germans, 

223. 
American    Trade    with    S. 

America,  216,  221. 
The  Americanization  of  S. 
America,  214-228. 

Spain  and  Her  Colonies,  see 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Philip- 
pine Islands. 

Spain,  Princess  Eulalie  of, 
on  the  American  Girl,  328. 

Spectator  quoted,  130. 

Spiritualism  in  the  United 
States,  270,  271. 

Sport  in  America,  334-341. 

Starr,  Prof.,  on  the  American 
Type,  152. 

Stephenson,  George,  360. 

Stevenson.  Mr.,  on  Great  Bri- 
tain and  the  Colonies,  429- 
43«. 

Stockton,   Frank,  407. 

Stone,  Miss,  American  Mis- 
sionary, captured  by  Bri- 
gands in  Macedonia,  183- 
188. 

Stowe,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher, 
282-284. 

Sugar-Growing  in  the  West 
Indies,  70-82. 

Summing-Up,    381-444. 

Sutherland.  Mr.,  on  German 
Emigration  to  Australia, 
I4i. 

Sydney  Bulletin,  56,  134,  136. 

Tammany  and  the  Foreigner 

in  America,  150. 
Tammany  in  Japan,  211. 
Taschereau,  Cardinal.  107. 
Tehmantepec     Railway,     227- 

228. 
Temperance    Reform    in    the 

United  States,  271-272. 

457 


Index 


Temple,  Sir  Richard,  on  the 
English-Speaking  World, 
compared  with  Russia, 
Germany,  and  France,  12. 

Times,  300;  quoted,  51,  293. 

Tobacco  Trust,  379-380. 

Tocqueville,  Alexis  de,  279. 
On    American    Democracy, 
393- 

Toru,  Hoshi,  Assassination 
of,  211. 

Tourgee,  A.  W..  on  Anglo- 
American  Reunion.  433. 

Trade,  see  Finance,  etc. 

Transvaal,  etc..  see  under 
South  Africa. 

Trend  of  the  New  Century,  I. 

Trinidad,  71. 

Trusts,  375-380. 

Tsilka,  Mrs.,  captured  by  Bri- 
gands in  Macedonia,  186. 

TURKEY : 

Treaty  of  San  Stefano,  187. 

Berlin  Treaty,  187-188. 

Macedonia  under  Turkish 
Rule,  183-188. 

Caoture  of  Miss  Stone  by 
Brigands  in  Macedonia, 
i8.3-.i88. 

American  Missonaries  in 
Turkey,  etc..  183-198. 

Robert   College.    189-102. 

The  Principality  of  Bul- 
garia, 185-100. 

The  American  Missionaries 
in  Asiatic  Turkey,  191. 

Americanization       of      the 
Ottoman  Empire,  133-198. 
Tuskegee  College.  156. 
Twain,    Mark    (S.    L.    Clem- 
ens) : 

On    Australia.    134-11=;. 

On  the  American  Mission- 
aries in  China,  208. 

Other  Reference,  287. 

458 


Twentieth  Century  and  Its 
Trend,  1-3. 

United  Kingdom  and  the 
British  Empire,  see  Col- 
onies and  Empire. 

UNITED  STATES: 
Soci.-J,  etc.: 

The  United  States  and 
the  British  Empire, 
4-12. 

Population  and  Area,  4, 
43,  92,  154-155- 

The  Crucible  of  Nations, 
145-160. 

The  Foreign  Element  and 
the  English  Language, 
148-160. 

The  British  in  America, 
148. 

The  Irish  in  America,  41, 
159- 

The  German  Element, 
153,  154-155.  165-166. 

The  Scandinavian  Ele- 
ment, 158. 

The   Negroes,    155-156. 

Treatment  of  the  Indi- 
ans, 1 20. 

Lovalty  of  the  American 
Citizen.  28-29. 

Secret  of  American  Suc- 
cess, The.  381-395. 

Education,  384-388. 

Incentives  to  Labor,  388- 
302. 

Religion,   255-275. 

American  Missions;  Sta- 
tistics. 197. 

American  Missionaries 
in  Africa,  198;  in  Asia. 
207-208 ;  in  Turkey, 
etc.,  183-198. 


Index 


Robert  College  in  Tur- 
key, 189-192. 

Literature  and  Journal- 
ism, 276-303. 

Art,  Science,  and  Music, 
304-317- 

American  Caricaturists, 
295- 

The  Enfranchisement  of 
Women,  271-272. 

The  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union, 
272. 

Marriage  and  Society, 
318-333. 

Sport,  334-341- 
Finance,  &c. : 
Finance,  11-12,  342-345. 

Reciprocity,    175-180. 

Trusts,  375-380." 

Trade  with  Canada,  95- 
103. 

American  Capital  in  Can- 
ada, 101-103. 

American  Trade  with 
Jamaica,  &c.,  74-82. 

American  Trade  with  S. 
America,  221. 

Exports  to  Germany,  169- 
170. 

The  United  States  and 
China,  206-208. 

American  Relations  with 
Japan,  209-210. 

Korea;  an  opening  for 
American  Capital,  211. 

American  Machinery, 
Locomotives,  &c.,  in 
England,  350-368. 

Shipbuilding  in  America 
and  in  England,  371- 
375- 

The  American  Invasion, 
342-^80. 


POLITICAL  AND    HIS- 
TORICAL: 

The    American    Constitu- 
tion, 17-26,  126-127. 
The  Declaration  of  Inde- 

rdence,  33. 
Canadians    and    the 
Civil  War,  94-95. 

An  American  Navy,  371. 

What  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine is,  229-247. 

Monroe  Doctrine  and  the 

Klondyke  Mines,  104-105. 
Alaskan      Dispute,      242. 

The  Venezuelan  Dispute, 
2^1,  241,  251. 

Fisheries  Dispute  be- 
tween Nova  Scotia  and 
Massachusetts,  103. 

Russia  and  the  United 
States,  185,  206-207. 

Capture  of  Miss  Stone 
by  Brigands  in  Mace- 
donia, 183-188. 

The  United  States  and 
International  Arbitra- 
tion, 248-254. 

EXPANSION  AND 

AMERICANIZATION : 
American  Expansion,  200- 

205. 
American  Rule  in  Cuba, 

76-82. 
Annexation       of       Porto 

Rico,  76-82. 

Annexation  of  the  Phil- 
ippine Islands,  201-202. 
Annexation  of  Hawaii, 200. 
America  and  Samoa,  200. 
The  Americanization  of 

England,   17-25. 
The  Americanization     of 

Ireland,  27-50. 
The    Americanization   of 

South  Africa.  51-63. 

459 


Index 


Americanization  of  the 
West  Indies.  &c..  70-82. 

The  Americanization  of 
Newfoundland  and 
Canada.  83-98. 

Suggested  Purchase  »  of 
Nova  Scotia,  &c.,  104. 

Americanization  of  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zea- 
land, 123-144. 

A  Monroe  Doctrine  for 
the  Pacific,  128-130. 

The  Americanization  of 
Germany.  163-170. 

The  Americanization  of 
Austria,  174-176. 

The  Americanization  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire, 
183-198. 

The  Americanization  of 
Asia,  199-213. 

America  and  India,  212 

The  Americanization  of 
Central  and  South 
America.  214-228. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  and 
S.  America,  163,  215- 
216.  229-247. 

Isthmian  Canal,  225-228. 
Utrecht,  Treaty  of,    85. 

Vendlandt,  Dr.  W.,  on  the 
American  Peril,  176. 

Venezuelan  Dispute,  231,  241, 
251- 

Vincent,  Sir  Howard,  on  S. 
America,  218. 

Vogel,  Sir  Julius,  on  New  Zea- 
land and  the  Pacific  130-131. 

Waldersee,  Countess  von,  3*9- 

Waldstein,  Prof,  on  the  Ele- 
ments of  Nationality.  149. 

Walsh.  Rodney,  on  the  Eng- 
lish Language  in  the  United 
States,  158. 

Washington.  Booker,  and  the 
Negroes,  156. 

460 


Washington,     George,    Quot- 
ed, 418. 
Wellman,    Walter,    on    Porto 

Rico,  77. 

WEST  INDIES: 
British  and  American  Pos- 
sessions,    Map,  68. 
The    Sugar    Question,    71- 

73- 

England  and  the  West  In- 
dies, see  Jamaica.  &c.,  &c. 
American  Rule  in  the  West 
Indies,    see    Cuba,    Porto 
Rico. 

Danish     Possessions.     243- 
Germany  and  the  West  In- 
dies, 72-73. 
The  Americanization  of  the 

West  Indies,  etc.,  70-82. 
Whistler,  J.  McN..  305-307. 
White,     Arthur,     on     Anglo- 
American    Federation,    429. 
Whitman.  Walt.  285-286. 
Whitney,  W.  C,  337-33.8- . 
Wideneos,  Mr.,  on  American 

Democracy,  394. 
Willard,  Miss  Frances.  272. 
Wilson,    Gen.   James   H.,    on 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  234 

WOMEN  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES : 
The     Enfranchisement     of 

Women,   271. 
The      Women's     Christian 

Temperance  Union,  272.. 
Scientists,  311-312. 
The    American    Woman    in 

Society,  318-333. 
World's  Work  quoted,  365. 
Wright.     Carroll    D..  on    the 
Population  of  the  U.  S.,  151. 
Wu  Ting  Fang,  207. 

Yachting:  The  America  Cup, 

&c..  335-336. 
Yerkes,  C.  T.,  330,  359. 


loJ 


E 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


v 


IBRARY0A 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
THIS  BOOK  CARD   ^ 


University  Research  Library 


JUNIVERS1/, 


I30NV-SOF 


